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The Brick Development Association, the body that represents the clay brick and paver industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, has responded to recent comment about the state of the construction industry, citing that the positive growth over the last month is something that manufacturers have strategies and plans to manage.

In light of recent Government initiatives, and particularly in regards to the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme, and the ‘Get Britain Building Campaign’, the new build sector has very recently gained significant momentum. In combination with the recent good weather, the National House Building Council has reported that housing starts have risen by 18% for the three months leading up to May; equating to a 7% year on year market increase for brick manufacturing.

The effect of this increase in demand has been to revitalise the industry, and despite this sudden acceleration, the BDA is confident that manufacturers and merchants will be able to meet this demand.

Alan Baxter, Chairman of the BDA, commented:
“Undoubtedly, the initial successes of schemes such as Help to Buy and indeed the growing pace of the economic recovery, has meant that the construction industry in particular has faced an upswing in demand. However, there is absolutely no suggestion that manufacturers of clay bricks and pavers will be unable to deal with the increased demand.

The reality is that the market for bricks has declined by 5% last year and is still around 35% below 2007. Manufacturers have reduced production to adjust to the reduced demand levels experienced since 2008, with a few plants being closed and some being mothballed. They have also extended year end shutdowns extending into January and February each year to reduce production still further whilst also maintaining their brick ranges for their customers.

It is the sudden change in demand profile that has caused pressures on the manufacturers. This has arisen for a number of reasons, but a significant one has been the surprising announcement of the Help to Buy scheme in the March budget and its immediate obvious success. Increased demand for new homes has not only caused builders to want to increase output but also to catch up on production lost during the poor weather in the first quarter. In addition, Builders Merchants have sought to increase their brick stocks to more normal levels as they too have experience increased demand. Furthermore, brick customers have become accustomed to large stocks and therefore immediate availability since 2008.They now need to return to planning their deliveries and placing orders in advance as was standard practice prior to 2008 and the credit crisis.

These circumstances have all combined to create a period of very strong demand that the industry is responding to, but it will require some time to adjust.

Clearly production capacity that was lost due to extended Christmas shutdowns in the first months of 2013 cannot now be recovered, but as demand settles down over coming months into a more normal pattern, the industry will be more than able to cope. The brick market in 2013 is expected to grow between 10-15% compared to 2012 so given a more normal demand curve it has more than enough capacity to cope with any likely increases in demand. If demand continues to grow, UK manufacturers will wish to continue to bring back mothballed capacity and invest in new capacity as long as selling price levels are sufficient to justify such investments. Whist house prices increased fourfold since the mid-eighties, brick prices are at the same absolute level as twenty five years ago.

What we have seen over the last few months is simply the industry adapting to a much needed uplift in activity – which is a really positive development! From the perspective of manufacturers, the challenge moving forward is to work closely with customers as a means of effectively forecasting demand.

Brick buildings are an extremely durable and sustainable material, lasting for at least 150 years, providing a great built environment and beautifully designed buildings brought to us all, by an array of highly skilled and trained individuals, such as builders, planners, and architects. At the BDA, we are extremely proud of the way the manufacturers have responded to the market in such difficult times, especially in the downturn of the last few years. We will continue to show progress, improved efficiency and innovation in the future”.

Mr Baxter also cautioned about the issues being faced by manufacturers wishing to invest to increase their capacity. “Energy costs can be up to 35% of production costs. With increasing climate-related levys we will have to see higher brick selling prices in the future if we are to have a viable brick industry. The challenge will be to remain internationally competitive with the additional UK specific climate-related cost burdens. For manufacturers wishing to build new factories it is not helpful that new carbon allowances are not available initially, and it is only after investment that the manufacturer can apply to the new entrants reserve for an allocation, which may or may not be successful. This policy is not conducive to supporting the industry to invest in new capacity and reduce emissions.”

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New towel rails and new decorative radiators now available

Leading radiator manufacturer Stelrad Radiators has introduced its brand new, curved vertical premium panel radiator to the UK market – the Stelrad Swing.

The new model is based on Stelrad’s extremely popular Compact Vertex radiator but sees the addition of a one piece, curved steel front cover that gives it a modern and aesthetically pleasing designer feel. It comes in white as standard but can be specially ordered in up to 35 colours, making it an extremely attractive product for interior designers and architects, looking to match radiator colours with corporate or specific colour décor.
The Swing is available in two heights – either 1,820 or 2,020mm – in two types – either P+ (T21) or K2 (Type 22) and in a choice of lengths – from 504 to 727mm – a total of 12 SKUs. Btu/hr outputs range from 4,176 up to 8,107 at Dt50.

Stelrad’s Marketing Manager Sarah Baker says the Swing is already attracting significant interest: “It’s a very stylish and instantly modern feeling radiator that will make the Swing a vital part of a room’s design. By introducing the Swing we’re continuing to see the radiator as very much a positive contributor to the décor. The quality, the look and the feel of a designer radiator makes a statement and adds to the validity of interior design. We’re confident that we’ll see a serious push for the Swing in the months ahead.”

Stelrad Radiators has also unveiled two stunning additions to its collection of towel rails – range extensions to existing radiator designs.

Available now from Stelrad Radiator stockists around the country are the Caliente and Concord towel rails, both high quality exquisite radiators in their own right but now part of the ranges that bear their name.

The Caliente was launched at Ecobuild 2012, named in a competition by a customer visiting the show and entering a competition on the Stelrad stand: “Spanish for ‘heat’, Caliente has quickly become a favourite designer radiator model and adding a towel rail model to the range made huge sense, says Stelrads Sarah Baker. “We’ve introduced both single and double Caliente towel rail models – the attractive tubular finish will grace any bathroom, shower room or wet room environment.”

The Concord towel rail offers a sleek, flat tube design, that complements the four design options in the Concord range quite perfectly: “It’s a classic design that adds style and finesse to the décor of a bathroom,” says Sarah.

Whilst the products come as standard in white, both new products are available in a range of 35 colours making matching and contrasting to colour schemes an exciting additional option

For more information on the portfolio of towel rail products and the new decorative offerings from Stelrad, visit www.stelrad.com, or call on 0870 849 8056. You can follow Stelrad on Twitter @Stelrad or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stelradlimited.

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The Brick Development Association (BDA) has announced the shortlist for the 2013 Brick Awards, one of the top design and construction awards in the country.

There are 13 awards split into three categories: housing, building and landscape, and technical and craft. There is also the Supreme Award – the Brick Development Association Building of the Year, judged to be the best overall project from the 14 award winners.

2012 saw a new category in the annual Brick Awards, the Architect’s Choice Award. This award is open to any architectural student or practicing registered architect from around the world who can vote for the shortlisted project they believe demonstrates the best architectural use of brick. It will be granted to the project which receives the most votes. Last year, the North London Hospice designed by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris received over 80 votes and went on to win the award. An online voting interface has been set up on the BDA’s website and closes mid September. RIBA membership numbers and educational institutional details will be required.

Now in its 37th year, anticipation is growing for BDA Awards which will be presented at London’s Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel on 14th November. To book tickets and/or tables at the awards, please contact The Brick Development Association on 020 7323 7030 or email brick@brick.org.uk.

The shortlist can be viewed on the Brick Development Association website, www.brick.org.uk.

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Brian King began his apprenticeship in the heating and plumbing sector at the age of sixteen and now, more than thirty years later, with over 25 years of running his own business behind him, says that using quality products in his day to day life has been key to his success. He’s always been loyal to brands that have delivered for him over the years and one of those key brands has been Sentinel water treatment products. With his wife Fran who looks after the administration side of the business and plans Brian’s diary so he just heads off to where it says in the diary his next job is, business has been good and using quality water treatment is one reason he suggests why he rarely if ever gets call backs to jobs he’s done. By using Sentinel products he’s confident that the circulating water in a system will behave and that that system will operate as energy efficiently as it’s possible for it to do.

Over the years he has carried out hundreds of domestic boiler and full central heating installations along with additional general plumbing work for his private clients and for local builders operating in the North East of Lincolnshire. For the past ten years, he’s specialised in domestic boiler repairs and has built an excellent reputation in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area, for the quality of work he does.

Part of the success he has had is the ability to keep the business in the family! In 2005 Brian and his wife Fran’s daughter Julia, expressed an interest in joining the business and in 2007 she duly qualified as a Gas Safe Registered Engineer. She has followed in her dad’s footsteps, specialising in domestic gas boiler repairs. She has also set up a web site for Gas Safe Registered Engineers to trade their unwanted domestic gas boiler spare parts – you’ll find it at www.tradeboilerbits.co.uk.

Brian and Fran’s son Tom qualified as a joiner initially, but after two redundancies with major companies, he too looked at the family business as the way forward. He gained his NVQ Level 2 in Plumbing in 2011 and will qualify as a Gas Safe Registered Engineer in the next couple of months. During his time at Grimsby Institute, he has taken part in and won a number of plumbing competitions. The highlight was winning the national ‘SkillPlumb’ event in September 2011, organised by SummitSkills, and as a Gold medallist was awarded the title of ‘Plumbing Operative of the Year’ at their awards for Excellence Ceremony at the World Skills premiere Experience at London’s ExCel Centre in Docklands.

To capitalise on Tom’s natural ability and skills, the business is now tending to carry out more domestic boiler and central heating installations again. Last winter the company averaged more than one a week and this seems to be a pointer for the future direction of the business. Installing radiators, pipework and boilers – currently alongside his dad – is the area in which he sees his future, so the family is happy to see the business developing along those lines, building on the excellent reputation that the business has in the area already.

The business tends to stick with quality branded components, using mainly Vokera boilers, CenterRad (Plumb Center) radiators and Grundfos pumps, but always uses Sentinel water treatment products: “Sentinel X100, X400 and X800 are part of our staple diet,” says Brian. “We know it does the job and we know from our records that jobs where Sentinel has been used are jobs that go well. So when Sentinel launched its new Eliminator heating system filter product last year we were happy to try that and see how we got on with it. We’ve used the new filter on every install we’ve done this winter and we can’t see any reason to switch away from it. It’s easy to fit, does the job well and we’re getting no problems with them at all – which hasn’t been the case with other units we’ve used in the past where leaks were a worry with some units in particular. My customers like the idea of a system that uses cyclone technology – most of them know about it already from their vacuum cleaners and recognise the logic of using it in a water based environment. So Sentinel products are quite literally part of our family business!”

So a true family business if ever there was one – the ‘Combi King’ rules OK – with the help of Sentinel – in Grimsby and Cleethorpes!

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Detectomat exhibited at the UK Firex South exhibition March 13th & 14th and also made a presentation – “The Application of Wire-free Detection and Alarm Solutions in Small and Medium size Buildings”.

This was the first Detectomat exhibition to feature Detectomat’s new SRC4000 Wire-free, radio fire alarm system, which generated considerable interest from existing and potential customers. The stand also displayed Detectomat’s SRC3000, which has been established as the benchmark for radio fire alarm solutions in Small and Medium size buildings. And there is clearly considerable interest and potential for Detectomat to build on this success with the SRC4000 for more demanding applications.

The Detectomat conference presentation made by David Leigh Detectomat’s Regional Director in the UK & Ireland was well attended and well received with many questions from delegates. The Fire industry has experienced significant growth in the use of wire-free, radio communication for FD&A applications in recent years and particularly in the small and medium size building sector, where the introduction of new cost-effective solutions has made radio a viable and attractive solution. The benefits particularly in retrofit applications are significant and Detectomat has been at the forefront in providing best value solutions for the smaller building market with >600 successful installations. These solutions have generally been well received by the market and enforcing authorities and considerable experience has been gained. This Detectomat presentation shared the experience gained over the last 5 years through a review of the technology, case study examples, reference to industry standards and regulations and concluded in what should be expected from the latest technology with reference to the SRC4000.

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By offering a convenient and reliable way of monitoring the voltage of individual cells during storage battery discharge testing, the new BVM battery monitor from Megger allows failing cells to be readily located. This means that battery performance and reliability can be restored by simply replacing the defective cells, rather than the much more costly option of replacing the whole battery.

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Marflow Hydronics, the specialist solution providers for the balancing, controlling and metering of water distribution systems in the HVAC industry, has launched a brand new ‘Definitive Guide to Pressure Independent Control Valves’.

The aim of the guide is to provide understanding and knowledge to help anyone using the products, ensuring that systems are designed to optimise the best performance levels.

The guide describes the design and operation of Pressure Independent Control Valves (PICVs), explaining how they work, their operational limits and the control options available.

Martin Lowe, Joint Managing Director at Marflow Hydronics, says, “We get asked so many questions about PICVs and so we developed this guide to offer help and support to our customers. It’s been written with them in mind. PICVs have so many great benefits and if designers use this guide it will help them make the most of all those benefits in their systems.”

The guide has been written in conjunction with Chris Parsloe, an independent consultant who previously worked for BSRIA and has great experience with pipe system operation.

For your copy of the guide, please contact Marflow Hydronics on 0845 564 1555, email solutions@marflow.co.uk or visit www.marflowhydronics.co.uk.

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Triton Systems, suppliers of systems for basement waterproofing, concrete waterproofing and green roof construction, have incorporated the benefits of specifying BIM objects into their five RIBA approved CPD seminars.

Three of the seminars cover new build and existing basement waterproofing and focus on the requirements of BS 8102: 2009 (the Code of Practice for Protection of Below Ground Structures), including the grades of waterproofing required, the types of waterproofing systems available and relevant standards and regulations.

A seminar on Waterproofing Concrete Structures Below Ground looks at the benefits of using concrete in basement construction as well as the available waterproofing systems as defined in BS 8102 (2009); and a seminar on Green and Living Roofs focuses on the benefits of green roofs, design principles and the construction process.

Triton was one of the first manufacturers in the construction industry to have its products included in the NBS National BIM Library and architects can now download elements of structural waterproofing and concrete waterproofing systems, ground gas barriers and green roof water storage membranes, as BIM objects directly for insertion into a building model via Triton’s page at www.nationalbimlibrary.com/triton

BIM (Building Information Modelling) pulls together multiple data streams to allow a building design team to generate a comprehensive virtual 3D model of a building. Its key benefits include being able to carry out greater and more accurate interrogation of all aspects of the project. The free to use National BIM Library includes objects covering all major building fabric systems. Triton is one of the very first manufacturers to make its proprietary objects available in the library and these are available for download in all the main architectural software formats as well as in the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) format.

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In September and October 2013 Marflow Hydronics is running free CPD training courses across the country on Pressure Independent Control Valves.

Aimed at consultants, designers, specifiers and key influencers who want to improve their skills and specifiy, purchase or commission a PICV, the courses are designed to provide delegates with knowledge on how they work, how best to design them and how to make systems more economical.

The half day sessions will look at how things have been done historically, using PICVs today, simplified design and installation, cost implications, commissioning and what’s in store for the future.

Martin Lowe, Joint Managing Director at Marflow Hydronics, says, “We have developed these brand new courses after receiving a lot of questions from our customers on the best way to work with PICVs. By increasing their knowledge on how to best use the products, we can save customers time, money and energy well into the future, and that’s what’s most important to us.”

The courses are being held across the country and are free for anyone to attend, but delegates must have a reasonable knowledge of water distribution systems already to get the most out of the day.

Places are limited, on a first come first served basis, so immediate registration is recommended. To register or for more information either visit www.marflowhydronics.co.uk/events, call 0845 643 9096 or email training@marflow.co.uk.

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Fakro’s new range of flat roof windows includes models with clear and opaque polycarbonate domes as well as a dome-free option. All offer excellent thermal qualities as their multi-chamber PVC frames are filled with polystyrene insulation. Energy-efficient U6 or U8 triple and quadruple-glazed units are also available to provide a glazing U-value as low as 0.3 W/m2K. Added security is achieved through use of an internal pane of P2A anti-burglary glass and the window design provides a glazing area up to 16% larger than other manufacturers’ windows. Non-standard sizes are routinely manufactured to match those of old skylights requiring replacement. All have a white external surface.

Electrically operated windows utilise ‘Z wave’ technology which enables them to be controlled with other appliances from a single remote. Windows including non-opening versions are compatible with both Fakro heat protection external awnings and internal blinds. They can be installed from 0-15° and mounted on an upstand to provide an extra 15cm height – ideal for green roofs.

Fakro offers a 10 year warranty for all windows and a 20 year warranty on glazing units. All products carry the CE Mark and are fully compliant with the new Construction Products Regulations.

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