FM Report 205 - Friday 21st September 2007

21 September 2007

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HVCA says Government must enforce Part L
HVCA president, John Miller, has challenged the Government to enforce the changes introduced last year to Part L of the Building Regulations. Speaking at the HVCA President's Luncheon in London last week, he reported that not only are building control departments up and down the country failing to police the regulations, but many of them were quite deliberately turning a blind eye to the new regime. He said, "Government must put its house in order on an issue that has massive implications not only for engineering services, not only for construction, but - ultimately - for the nation and the planet."
www.hvca.org.uk

Prodgers leaves Integrated fm and sets up agent4fm
Following the announcement last week that Lionel Prodgers, director and former head of strategic business development at Integrated FM was to leave the company, he has launched a new venture this week. In December 2006, Integrated fm Limited acquired the business of ARK e-management Limited founded by Prodgers. His new venture - agent4FM – is aimed at organisations that want to achieve better standards of service and greater efficiency in their facilities operations. It will focus on calibrating business processes to achieve ultimate efficiency in managing assets, resources and knowledge. Prodgers is a former chair of BIFM and EuroFM and is currently an IFMA Board member.
www.agent4FM.com

Ellen MacArthur steers the Carbon Clean Up campaign
The second '100 days of Carbon Clean Up' was launched at the Energy Event in Birmingham last week by yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur. Supporting the CIBSE initiative sponsored by E.ON to raise awareness of energy efficiency with business energy users, she said "This is a journey for all of us to think, work and behave differently." Some 570 companies signed up for the 100 Carbon Clean Up campaign last year. The campaign encourages simple no/low cost carbon reduction measures during the 100 days (12 September – 10 December) to reduce the carbon emitted from buildings, and provides a simple measurement tool to measure the saving and submit a carbon return to CIBSE.
(l-r) Rob Schweidler, E.ON, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Stephen Matthews, CIBSE, and Tim Pyke, E.ON
www.100days.co.uk

Office is now a place to ‘meet and interact'
The latest 2007 Flexible Working Survey shows that flexible working is increasingly the norm as professionals seek more control over where and how they work. Sponsored by Johnson Controls Global Workplace Solutions and prepared by Dr Marie Puybaraud, its Director of Facilities Innovation, the research has tracked the growth of flexible working since 2002. She said, "Compared to last year we can observe a shift towards more mobile working patterns, a decrease of the time spent in the office and slight increase of homeworking. Some 35 per cent of the respondents consider it is not important to go to the office."
marie.c.puybaraud@jci.com

Shortlists for Olympic Velodrome and sailing facilities
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has announced a shortlist of six construction companies to build the Velodrome for the London 2012 Games to be designed by Hopkins Architects. The shortlist comprises Alfred McAlpine Major Projects, Carillion Construction, FCC Construccion, ISG InteriorExterior, Shepherd Construct Limited and Wates. The ODA has also announced the shortlist of 5 companies to provide new and improved sailing facilities in Weymouth for use during the Games. They are Birse, Carillion, Dean & Dyball, Edmund Nuttall and Raymond Brown. Construction work is due to start on site early next year and be completed by the end of 2008, one of the first venues ready for the 2012 Games.
www.london2012.com

Research into FM services
The FM division of Taylor Woodrow has joined forces with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to launch a major research project into the strategic value of integrated FM services. The project will identify the gaps between customers' perception of value and the FM provider's interpretation of service requirements, and look at closer integration of service delivery by multiple service providers.
www.taylorwoodrow.com/construction

MoD contracts come together
The Bristol Bath Total Facilities Management (BB TFM) project for the Regional Prime Contract South West (RPC SW) has been integrated into Babcock Infrastructure Services' joint venture company, Debut Services. The BB TFM project merges the existing total FM contract at Abbey Wood and the soft services (Multi Activity Contract) for the Bath area – a total of 6 sites accommodating over 10,000 staff. Debut will employ over 120 staff to delivery of 38 hard and soft services for the 3 years of the contract.
www.babcock.co.uk

Trading in real estate futures
On 1 October Liffe is to launch on the Paris derivatives market two futures contracts on indices that track the performance of European real estate companies, the first of their kind in Europe. The two new futures contracts are based on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index (EPRA) and the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index (EPEU) which are seen as benchmarks in Europe for investments in listed real estate companies. Interest in real estate linked financial instruments has grown significantly in Europe in recent years and the indices provide a measure of the performance of these property companies.
www.ftse.com/realestate

Financial close on ‘Northern Batch' PFIs
Balfour Beatty's specialist healthcare concession company, Consort Healthcare, with HSBC Infrastructure Fund Management Limited, has reached financial close on the £77m Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust PFI project in Greater Manchester. The project is part of the "Northern Batch" Scheme, which comprises both Tameside and the £136m scheme for the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, which reached financial close last week. Balfour Beatty Construction will build the facilities, Haden Young will perform all the electrical and mechanical systems work and Haden Building Management will supply all FM services on both projects.
www.balfourbeatty.com

Green award for TWM event
Last year's Total Workplace Management event has been awarded ‘Most Effective Event Activity' at the Event Awards 2007, for the exhibition's efforts to be environmentally sustainable. At the 2006 event, using replaceable carpet tiles saved about 12,300m2 of exhibition carpet (eliminating the release of vast amounts of rayon into the environment) and about 18.6 tonnes of other waste was recycled. Event Director, Chris Fountain, said "The measures we put in place last year have set a benchmark for the 2007 event in October, and for all future shows." Total Workplace Management 2007 will take place from 10-11 October 2007 at Olympia, London.
www.twmexpo.com

SIA urges reclaiming refunds
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is urging thousands of SIA licence holders to claim back licence fee refunds. Operatives holding more than one valid SIA licence can claim a 50% refund on the full £245 licence application fee for their second or subsequent licence which costs just cost just £122.50. In total, the SIA has about £400,000 to be refunded.
www.the-sia.org.uk

Guide to IP for security
The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) has launched a guide on the adoption of Internet Protocol (IP) technology which increasingly being used within the security industry. It shows how IP can be an effective method of communication for alarm, access control and CCTV systems.
www.bsia.co.uk/publications

FM company launched by Centurion
A new full service property and FM service, called Centurion, has been launched to provide traditional FM services and to help clients source, acquire and manage properties. The company currently operates Ajay Business Centres in West London and specialises in complete property solutions including all location, budgetary and maintenance functions.
centurianfm@btconnect.com

Design event moves in 2008
Design PRIMA 2008, the design led ‘Contract‘ event for the Interiors industry and support professions, is to move to the Business Design Centre in Islington for June 3rd - 5th 2008 having grown out of its original home at Old Billingsgate.
www.designprima.com

Free seminar in Manchester and free data centre audit
Delegates attending a FREE seminar on improving energy efficiency in data centres together with server virtualisation and virtual facilities, will be offered a FREE high level audit to establish your Datacentre Efficiency Ratio. The seminar is aimed at IT and Facilities professionals and will deliver practical measures that can be implemented to save energy and reduce operating expenses, as well as improve utilisation of IT assets and data centre capacity. The seminar is organised by Keysource, APC, Sun Microsystems and Future Facilities and is to be held at the Lowry Hotel, Chapel Wharf, Manchester on 3rd October 2007 between 3.00pm – 5.00pm followed by networking and refreshments. Places are on a strictly first come, first served basis. To view a full agenda, book your place and secure your free audit, please visit http://www.keysource.co.uk/events or call Matt Dyke on 0845 2043333.