Welding Certification
Buildoffsite Member Lloyds Register has asked us to draw to your attention a recently launched one stop "Weld Certification" service. A contact point for more information is given in the attached briefing note"
Click here for further details
Buildoffsite Newsletter January 2012
2011 was undoubtedly a tough year for
most of the economy and, of course, tough
for most of the construction industry. So
what will 2012 bring us? Well I guess that
Benjamin Franklin had it about right when
more than 200 years ago he penned those
famous words: “In this world nothing can be
said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
So what will 2012 bring for Buildoffsite and
our passion to significantly increase the use
of quality offsite construction solutions? You
may be surprised to hear that I am cautiously
confident that Buildoffsite will continue to
make progress and, even more importantly,
I believe that our Members will also continue
to make progress. The tangible justification
for feeling confident is that we are continuing
to attract new Members – at a time of real
pressure on resource this is a massive vote
of confidence in what we can do collectively,
and the simple and inexorable logic of the
case for the increased use of offsite solutions.
In all honesty, what’s the alternative?
Click here to read the Newsletter
Buildoffsite Review 2012
It’s that time of the year when we compile
and publish the Buildoffsite Yearbook.
Many of those who read this Newsletter
may not be aware of this as copies are
generally irculated only to our Members. Click here to read the review
Factoryshare.org goes live
Factoryshare.org is an initiative that seeks to make use of the ‘down time’ and / or unused space (the cost of which is otherwise paid for as part of the factory overhead) through a number of possible scenarios:
- By providing manufacturing space for start up companies wishing to enter the offsite market. These underutilised areas could be sectioned off and rented to people thus saving them the cost of buying, building and developing a new location. It could test the viability of the product without high capital cost;
- By enabling existing products to be delivered from a range of participating facilities, allowing small operations to upscale their offer or products to be manufactured closer to their point of deployment (with reduce transport time and cost);
- By enabling participating facilities to combine and trade capacity to drive down the cost of off-site solutions and move this further into the mainstream of construction delivery
For further information please see www.factoryshare.org
Acermetric show-house erection live
Watch the erection of the show house live at: http://acermetric.co.uk/cam
Tekla UK Model competition.
Tekla recently held their annual model competition attracting entries of all size and shapes and utilising many different construction materials. Once again the entries showcased the skills of our customers in terms of their use of the Tekla software but also highlighted their skills as companies involved in the construction process. The competition is open to all our customers and we had entries from “one man bands” up to the largest multi-national companies employing thousands. The entries can be seen at www.tekla.com/uk/Documents/model-comp-2011/entries.html
For more information click here
Transforming construction by adopting a Lean Thinking approach...
Lean symbolises creating more value for customers with fewer resources. CIRIA recently launched Build Lean: Transforming Construction using Lean Thinking (C696) written in the form of a novel. This innovative guide introduces Steve, a senior leader in a construction business, as he receives news of another failed tender. He licks his wounds and goes on to compare two projects, one which out-performed the other, as a result of using the Lean Thinking approach
To find out more and to read chapter summaries click here
To order a copy click here
Lean Project Management: Getting Involved
A special offer in collaboration with Construction Skills, Buildoffsite
and Lean Thinking Ltd to facilitate the implementation of a unique
Lean Project Management system in order to radically improve
performance
This is an invitation to all sectors of the construction industry to take up the offer of
facilitated implementation of lean project management system on their projects with a
money back guarantee.
This system applies to every stage of the project including pre-construction and design.
Those who have attended recent Buildoffsite Stakeholder events will be aware that a
number of featured construction projects have benefited from the application of lean
project management services provided by Lean Thinking Ltd to increase client value,
project performance, profitability and sustainability. In turn the application of lean project
management has stimulated the increased take up of offsite construction solutions to
ensure certainty of project programme, project cost and project quality. The clients
involved have included the Ministry of Justice and Marks & Spencer. Main contractors
have included Interserve and ISG.
For further information please click here
How can you Improve the Whole Life Value
Of your Next Building Project
According to the National Audit Office report, Improving Public Services through Better Construction, there is a distinct lack of clarity as to what best value and whole life costing are, a lack of robust data available on running costs, and lack of tangible benefits to be gained form considering best value and whole life costing.
In response, award-winning off-site specialist, Yorkon, has published a new technical paper ‘A Guide to Improving the Whole Life Value of a Building’
To download your personal copy of the new report, visit www.yorkon.info/industryreports or email contact@yorkon.co.uk
Building Energy Reduction: A Leadership Opportunity
Market incentivisation by visible DECs in non-domestic buildigns
Carbon is invisible, out of sight and largely out of mind. Buildings represent the
single largest cause of carbon release but this is poorly understood, and it is hard to
differentiate between good and bad performers. This problem was overcome in the
white goods market by making energy performance visible via the familiar energy
label, which has successfully driven the development of greener products.
The property market needs stronger incentives to enable landlords both to build
better new buildings and especially to refurbish existing buildings to higher energy
standards.
If non‐domestic buildings displayed their DEC performance prominently in circulation
areas (especially receptions), this would:
1. raise the awareness of users to their building’s energy performance
2. drive tenants to require higher performance from future premises
3. raise the value of better performing buildings
4. properly reward landlords who construct/refurbish buildings to high energy
standards.
We recognise that government is properly reluctant to regulate. However, we
believe the prominent display of DECs will drive the right behaviour and incentives,
and so call on the government to require this.
We are willing to demonstrate our support for this proposal and our leadership in
this matter by committing to place prominent DECs in our non‐domestic office
buildings over 1,000m² by December 2011.
For further information click here
Howick News
H400 Truss System
Howick's H400 Truss machine produces easy to assemble and use Trusses using our patented Rivet system that is equivalent to 6 traditional screws.
Speedfloor Makes Concrete Floors Easy
Speedfloor which is more commonly seen in commercial and carparking structures has been developed to work seamlessly with Howick's framing machines to allow concrete floors to easily be incorporated into Light Gauge Steel Framing.
H300 Mobile Factory
Howick's H300 framing machine can be installed in a 20ft mobile factory unit. Making it easier to transport than the lager 40ft model.
Find out more
Howick Steel Framing Innovation Conference registration of interest....
Howick Ltd will be hosting a Steel Framing Innovation Conference in Auckland, New Zealand from the 20 - 24th September 2010.
Find out more
Halving Waste to Landfill - Signatory Update
WRAP is eager to work with you to develop case studies, articles and PR to highlight projects that are demonstrating a commitment to waste reduction and benefitting from cost savings. If you’re keen to be involved, contact us at halvingwastetolandfill@wrap.org.uk
Find out more
LEAF International
The Leading European Architects Forum, or LEAF, brings together leading international architectural practices and designers operating in Europe and beyond to share knowledge, to network and to develop new partnerships.
Find out more
Howick offer factory machine demo
Discovering Offsite Howick
A small but enthusiastic group attended Henrob’s manufacturing plant in Deeside where Howick in conjunction with Henrob and Vertex presented an end to end solution for steel frame design and assembly.
Find out more
Circle Health - Buildoffsite member
One of Britain's most famous architects, Lord Foster, has built his first hospital, Circle Bath near Bath.
Rather than a traditional hospital design, it feels like a hotel, with sky lights and art decorating the walls. It is hoped that the pleasurable surrounding will increase patients' well-being and help them get better faster.
Going off-site in support of sustainability
Buildoffsite Stakeholder event
8 October 2009, London
Presentations
now available
Offsite Construction (OSC) Magazine Awards Lunch 2009
Find
out more
The time for intelligent construction: vision
and leadership
Stakeholders event
Wednesday 6 May 2009, London
Presentations
now available
Buildoffsite briefing, out now
Download
the February 2010 buildoffsite briefing
Two free downloads
A guide to modern methods of construction (a
BRE/NHBC publication)
Download
Your guide to specifying Modular Buildings:
maximising value and minimising risk
(a Buildoffsite publication in
partnership with BAA)
Download
New Offsite Technology Talks
Advantage Offsite, in collaboration with Mtech
Group, have launched a new series of dedicated Technical Talk
seminars for 2008.
Each focusing on a range of different offsite technologies,
including; volumetric modular, pods, light steel frame, timber
frame, precast concrete, ICF, SIPS, and pre-engineered M&E
services, Technical Talk will be the most dynamic and informative
offsite technology events of the year.
Technical Talk seminars will allow delegates to
understand the various different technologies within the offsite
construction sector in much more detail than the generic offsite
construction events that the industry has presented to date.
Find
out more
Buildoffsite forms alliance with new Scottish Construction Centre
Buildoffsite has formed an alliance with the recently-opened
Scottish Construction Centre (SCC) to help promote greater uptake
of offsite methods in Scottish construction sector.
The SCC has identified ‘offsite’ as
a key theme area for Scotland and is planning an initial series
of industry workshops to explore the strength of interest in a
programme of work to help companies understand how they may gain
from increased adoption of offsite construction techniques.
Funded by Scottish Enterprise and developed by
a CIRIA-led consortium, The SCC has been created to promote innovation
and excellence in Scotland's construction industry.
To find out more, visit www.scocon.org.
Standard Specifications, Layouts and Dimensions for School
Buildings
Free downloads available
A series of guidance notes have been released
that set out the standards of performance for a range of elements
in schools and show how these standards might be delivered through
design examples.
Find
out more
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