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From October 2006, new Fire Safety Legislation will require many building owners, managers and facility managers to ensure that any work carried out within their premises must include fire stopping when appropriate. Tradespersons, will find that it will become common practice to prove that they have an extensive knowledge and training on passive fire protection products and systems, as there will be an increasing need for accredited passive fire installers. With legal litigation on the increase many building owners and managers are insisting on detailed written certification of the work carried out by the trades person.

The Nationwide Association of Passive Fire Installers and Specifiers, ‘NAPFIS’ has recently been established to offer an accreditation process to all trades people involved in the construction industry. The NAPFIS Certificate, will ensure that as a carpenter, plumber, electrician or decorator you have an obligation to ensure that a variety of projects are completed to the highest possible fire standards. Examples of essential fire protection, include doors on fire escapes or corridors, which must be upgraded to the recognised standard, pipe-work that pass through fire-walls, and that all light fittings and trunking need to be also fully fire protected. With the risks of injuries and fatalities in a fire and the danger of a possible prosecution by the building owner, many contractors need to show that every effort has been made to minimise the risks and self-certification will become mandatory in the industry.

With a NVQ level 2 certificate and greater knowledge of fire protection, many NAPFIS certificate holders will have an ideal opportunity to increase their earning potential on existing and future projects whilst also learning how passive fire protection systems are installed to fulfil the requirements of the Reform Order and Risk Assessment.

The new Passive Fire Training Centre is located in Dover, Kent, and tradesmen will have an opportunity to experience, hands on demonstrations on the do’s and don’ts of passive fire protection. Early indications are that a number of the training courses are filling up fast, so to avoid any disappointment contact now on 01304 210721.

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A Treasury minister has told a House of Commons select committee that he would consider representations from the building industry that presented a case for tax incentives to encourage the construction of energy-efficient commercial and public buildings.

The representations are required urgently in advance of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget, expected sometime during March. The invitation to make submissions came from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, John Healey MP, when he appeared before the Environmental Audit Committee to give the Government’s views on the Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change.

The minister was responding to an MP’s question on whether the Government’s decision last December to use the stamp duty regime to encourage the building of zero-carbon homes could be followed by tax incentives in respect of commercial and public buildings.

Hambleside Danelaw Ltd, the environment award-winning building products manufacturer, has made submissions on the issue to the select committee and the Stern review. The Group also met Mr Healey last October to discuss the matter. Its proposals focus principally on reshaping the Industrial Buildings Allowance regime to incentivise sustainable development in the non-domestic building sector.

Robin Jeffery, Hambleside’s vice-chairman, said: “It is really encouraging that the select committee took up Hambleside Danelaw’s case for new tax incentives to encourage sustainable development. I urge others in the industry to respond to the minister’s invitation to submit representations in advance of the Budget. Given that non-compliance with the energy efficiency provisions in the Building Regulations remains a huge issue, we need a fresh approach.”

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The Ancon-sponsored award for ‘Best Craftsmanship’ at the 2006 Brick Awards has been won by Irvine Whitlock for their outstanding work on the West Elevation of St. Pancras Station, London; a project on which Ancon Building Products supplied them bespoke stainless steel brick support and restraint fixings.

“The finest evocation of brickwork they had ever seen” and “craftsmanship of the highest order” were just two of the judging panel’s comments in praise of the complex faÇade which features 45 moulded stone and red rubber brick arches. The arched masonry is restrained by more than one thousand special two-part wall ties designed to accommodate vertical and lateral movement.

The prestigious award was presented to the contract manager at Irvine Whitlock, Barry Johnson, by Ancon’s Lisa Kilby.

Lisa said of the awards,

“Ancon chose to sponsor the Craftsmanship award as it celebrates the skill of bricklaying.”

“The standard of the short-listed entries was extremely high. Each project serves as an excellent advertisement for the talent in our Industry and for the use of Brick; an attractive and sustainable cladding option.”

“The quality of Irvine Whitlock’s work on the winning entry is truly exceptional. I was very pleased to present the award, on behalf of Ancon, to one of our clients. We are very proud at Ancon to have St. Pancras Station in our 2006 project portfolio.”

Geoff Irvine, Managing Director of Irvine Whitlock said,

“Irvine Whitlock enjoys a good working relationship with Ancon. We respect each others expertise and share construction knowledge. Our staff work closely on a project-by-project basis and have collaborated on many high profile developments. St. Pancras Station is a perfect example of how our partnership can deliver spectacular results in the built environment, on time and in budget.”

The project was also voted ‘Supreme Winner’ and went some way to earning Irvine Whitlock their third 2006 Brick Award ‘Specialist Brickwork Contractor of the Year’.

For more information please contact Ancon Building Products on 0114 275 5224 or visit www.ancon.co.uk.

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Estimation’s QuoteMaster quotation management module now incorporates advanced tools for managing Net Price Agreements (NPAs), increasingly used by suppliers to fix prices on key items for a pre-agreed term.

QuoteMaster provides an interface between the supply chain and Estimation’s Central Price File of materials used throughout Estimation’s software as well as to their Estimating and Procurement modules. This enables contractors to quickly prepare a list of materials, and then submit it electronically to suppliers as a request for quotation.

QuoteMaster interfaces to everyday tools such as Microsoft Excel and Word, into which suppliers can enter their prices for the contractor, so any need for proprietary item or vendor codes is eliminated. This also means there is no need for special product data or software. This overcomes the headaches from lack of industry wide unique product references.

As quotations are returned by suppliers, these are imported electronically into QuoteMaster, where the inbuilt adjudication screens assist the contractor in making easy comparisons and adjudicating between quotes received from multiple suppliers.

Once the contractor has finalised the choice of supplies, QuoteMaster posts the Net Prices from the supplier into the Estimation software, ready to be used when preparing estimates and raising purchase orders.

To make life even easier, Net Price Agreements are stored, ready to be refreshed at any time. So as the current agreement is drawing to a close, it is quick and easy to resend the Request for Quotation to suppliers and refresh the Central Price File with their latest Net Price Agreement.

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Global building solutions company, CEMEX, have provided an eco-friendly paving solution for a new housing development in Cambridge. The ReadyPave™ Uni-Ecoloc permeable paving system has been installed in the courtyard and parking areas of the traditionally designed houses and apartments in the village of Brampton.

The site, which was formerly a car dealership, suffered from large amounts of surface water. To address this situation, developers Campbell Buchanan specified a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS), which would filter the surface water to the ground and nearby River Ouse in an evenly distributed manner. The ReadyPave™ Uni-Ecoloc system also negated the need for costly soak-aways, whilst providing an aesthetically pleasing and robust surface. The main driveway was constructed using grey ReadyPave™ Uni-Ecoloc blocks with parking bays in a contrasting Brindle colour.

ReadyPave™ Uni-Ecoloc is a fully interlocking system, which provides the inherent strength that is ideal for vehicular access and tight manoeuvring areas. It has voids which are filled with granular material to provide filtration to the ground below.

ReadyPave™ Uni-Ecoloc can be machine installed in clusters for larger commercial areas but the system is increasingly being specified for housing developments where sustainable drainage is becoming an important consideration, particularly in light of last summer’s drought orders in the South East.

A brochure detailing the entire ReadyPave™ range is available on request by calling 0870 240 3030, or you can visit the CEMEX website at www.cemex.co.uk for information on a wide range of building materials.

CEMEX manufactures a wide range of building materials including Block Paving, Architectural Masonry and Dense and Lightweight blocks, as well as a wide range of Concrete Roof Tiles and associated fittings.

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When office interiors specialist, Vision Business Interiors, wanted new flooring for the showroom in Derby, there was only one company in the specification process. The company recommends the Gerflor range of flooring products to its customers, so it was an excellent opportunity to show Vision’s faith in the quality of the product by laying it in the main entrance hall, through the middle of the showroom to the back and into the toilets.

“We chose a number of Gerflor products to show the versatility and choice of the range,” explains owner Gordy Smith. “This included Creation Wood, Metallica, Creation Mineral and Tarasafe Ultra. The main criteria was that it had to be hardwearing and withstand the constant foot traffic from our customers.” The result is two-fold – Vision has a resilient flooring which satisfies requirements in terms of aesthetics and durability as well as a physical portfolio of Gerflor products in-situ.

Creation is a synthetic, decorative, flexible, antistatic, abrasion group T floorcovering, available in strip form, with bevelled edges which enhances the floor whilst still providing the required toughness. Tarasafe Style/Ultra slip resistant floorcovering was installed in the toilet area. Metallica is a compact calendered floorcovering reinforced with a glass fibre grid. All products offer strength and wear resistance, coupled with extremely high visual appeal to enhance the appearance of Vision’s showroom.

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Fibre cement Weatherboard from Marley Eternit creates “outstanding feature areas” in a purpose-built community by Persimmon Homes South Coast.

The weather and fire-resistant Weatherboard in three low-maintenance colours – blue/grey, grey and ivory – has been used to clad the elevations of some of the 1,000+ homes at Cherque Farm in Lee on the Solent in Hampshire.

Dave Pellen of AAP Architecture said they specified it to “reflect New England styles” and because it “works well with the brick types and slates specified” to “create outstanding feature areas”.

AAP’s brief from Persimmon was to provide 1,050 dwellings including 25% affordable housing provision with outline planning consent and they were actively involved from initial master planning through to detailed planning consent and construction drawings for each phase of the development.

The 100-acre site was formerly a quarry and special consideration was given by AAP to local shopping areas, open space including sports pitches, laps, leaps, neaps and an extensive footpath/cycleway, and a non-car transportation network.

Marley Eternit’s Weatherboard features particularly prominently on house types Hawthorn and Topiary in phase 5F or The Coppice – a mix of 30 two- and three-storey and three to five-bedroomed timber-framed balconied townhouses and detached homes in traditional and New England styles.

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Hepworth Building Products has launched a new campaign to help the ever increasing number of plumbers working to tight deadlines in awkward spaces around the house.

The growing repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) market means that plumbers are frequently finding themselves completing demanding jobs in difficult locations around the house. Hepworth’s campaign features its Hep20 flexible push fit plumbing system, which offers essential support to plumbers required to work behind sinks, under floorboards, in lofts and other small, confined spaces.

The campaign, which focuses on the benefits of using Hep2O, offering advice and guidance on how best to deal with tight spaces, stars Hepworth’s ‘Flexible Plumber’ character, who also appears on a new website, www.flexibleplumber.co.uk .

Hepworth’s Market Development Manager, Adrian Bristow said: “We hope that through seeing the awkward installations that the ‘Flexible Plumber’ gets himself into, installers will realise that we understand the problems they face every day. Although the site is tongue in cheek, there is a serious message behind it.”

Adds Adrian: “We’re providing information on the range of Hep2O products developed specifically with the installer in mind. Hep2O flexible plumbing is ideal for use in the RMI market and makes long and difficult tasks less awkward. We know that when more installers try the products out for themselves, they will realise the benefits that they can deliver.”

For further information about Hepworth Building Products and its product range please visit www.hepworth.co.uk.

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