Government plan to tackle construction payment practices ‘must not fail’

by ConstructionFeatured News

The latest government plan to tackle unfair payment practices in construction must not be allowed to fail, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). 

As association said that proposals to force main contractors to be more transparent about the time they take to make payments and how much retention money they are withholding from sub-contractors could make a huge difference to the business prospects of smaller specialist suppliers, including building services contractors. 

BESA said it would be pushing for companies to be required to publish the amount they have paid not just the number of invoices as that was the most meaningful measure of how closely they were sticking to payment pledges. 

The government is consulting the industry until April 28 on a new retentions and late payment reporting scheme that would improve the amount of information available to contractors to help them negotiate better payment terms and avoid working for companies with poor payment records. 

The proposal would update the existing Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations and follows a government review. 

Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business Kevin Hollinrake said: “The late payment problem cannot be entirely addressed by means of legislation. It is ultimately a matter of encouraging a culture change in payment practices and how businesses deal with each other.  

“But we want to continue to help to build that culture of prompt payment between companies and challenge UK businesses to improve their practices and stand by their smaller business partners.” 

Awareness 

Hollinrake said the government review had produced evidence of “some improvement in payment practices” since the introduction of the legislation, but there was scope “to do more to ensure compliance and to increase awareness in this area”. 

Five years on from the collapse of Carillion, BESA said it was crucial that main contractors were no longer allowed “to mark their own homework” and welcomed the proposal to make individual directors responsible for a company meeting its fair payment pledges. 

Under the proposed changes, companies would be required to report the average number of days taken to make retention payments, after practical completion and the end of the contractual defects liability period. They would also have to report how many retention payments were paid in 30 days or fewer, between 31 and 60 days, and in 61 days or more. 

The government would also require firms to publish the average value of the retentions they held as a percentage of the overall contract and which retentions were not paid in the agreed period and why.  

The association’s legal and commercial director Debbie Petford said: “BESA will be providing a detailed response to the consultation and emphasising that measuring payment by value is the best way to gauge how well a company is performing.”

She said proper enforcement would also be vital as there had been too many ‘voluntary’ pledges on late and unfair payment over the years, which have not helped the cause of sub-contractors struggling to claim fair payment “for work they have completed in good faith”. 

“We welcome the government’s new proposal as it could make a real difference at a time when many SMEs are facing insolvency due to strangled cash flow through no fault of their own,” she added. 

“Let’s get this new plan agreed and then make it stick.” 

Fire safety practitioners in New South Wales must consult with FRNSW for construction certificate

by ConstructionFeatured NewsSafety

From 1 August 2023 fire safety practitioners in New South Wales who develop a design brief for a performance solution for a fire safety requirement in a Class 2-9 building will need to consult with Fire and Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) if a construction certificate is required for the building work. This requirement will apply typically to fire safety engineers.

The engineering profession in NSW has seen major change in the building and construction industry since 2019, including the Residential Apartment Building Act, the Design and Building Practitioners Act and Regulation.

Last August the NSW Government released for consultation some wide-ranging reforms that aim to ensure people can own, occupy and use more compliant, safe and resilient buildings. Engineers Australia made several submissions to this consultation.

The proposed fire safety reforms were passed by the NSW government in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Regulation 2022 (the Fire Safety Regulation 2022) and were published on the NSW legislation website in December 2022.

After the initial change for fire safety practitioners on 1 August 2023, there will be one additional step: From February 2025 (or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved, whichever occurs first), persons who certify installed fire safety measures before a fire safety certificate is issued must be accredited. 

Also, engineers maintaining essential fire safety measures in class 1b-9 buildings must do so in accordance with procedures in the Australian Standard 1851-2012 routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, where the maintenance activity is addressed by the standard.

Engineers Australia said it is committed to its ongoing work in building reform and helping to shape the regulatory landscape of the industry and to that end we continue to work closely with the NSW government  

Engineers Australia added that it supports the efforts of the New South Wales Government to reform the building industry in NSW and to implement the recommendations of the Building Confidence Report.

To find out more about fire safety regulation reforms see the New South Wales Government Fair trading website.

BESA urges UK government to accelerate investment in energy efficiency

by ConstructionFeatured News

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has welcomed the creation of a new government department dedicated to delivering energy security and net zero. However, it has urged Secretary of State Grant Shapps to accelerate investment in energy efficiency. 

Shapps was appointed to lead the new department as part of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s first ministerial reshuffle, which saw the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) split into three departments. 

Sunak said the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero would be tasked with “securing our long-term energy supply, bringing down bills and halving inflation”. 

The government is legally required to update its Net Zero Strategy by the end of March. BESA said it should take the opportunity to clarify where it stands on energy efficiency in the built environment. 

BESA’s technical director Graeme Fox said: “Putting net zero and energy security together makes sense. They go hand-in-hand and one of the quickest ways to achieve both is to step up efforts to improve the energy performance of the built environment through a national programme of building retrofits. 

“Investing in energy efficiency measures, scaling up the roll-out of heat pumps by bringing forward the promised funding, and driving investment in training to plug our green skills gap can all be done at speed.”

Ambition 

The Association urged the government to bring forward the £6bn promised by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt from 2025 to help building owners cut energy use by 15% compared with current levels.

It also said the government would have to increase heat pump subsidies to achieve its long-stated ambition of growing the market to 600,000 installations a year by 2028. 

Fox explained “These are quick wins that could get our lagging net zero programme back on track, improve energy security and start cutting people’s bills. We are miles away from the 600,000 heat pumps a year target, but we could get there with some serious and focused support.” 

Speaking at BESA President’s Lunch, broadcaster Tom Swarbrick – who was political adviser to Theresa May during her time as Prime Minister – said the government made a legally binding commitment to deliver net zero by 2050 “with absolutely no plan for how it would be delivered” claiming that said May saw it as a fitting legacy from her time in office “but nobody had any idea how to do it”.  

Fox also pointed out that it was May who scrapped the Department of Energy and Climate Change in 2016 and said that the time since had been marked by a lack of direction on energy policy. 

The Association has urged Shapps to move quickly to clarify how the government expected to deliver its legal commitments and to “hit the ground running by backing energy efficiency”. 

Fox added: “This must be more than a political gesture. It is an opportunity to bring real focus to strategies that the government already knows about, and which can dramatically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for heating and cooling in buildings – so bringing both energy security and net zero closer.”

Chartered Institute of Buildings unveils five-year plan

by ConstructionFeatured News

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has launched a five-year plan focusing on quality and safety, environmental sustainability and closing the construction industry’s skills gap. 

The plan aims to make modern professionalism in construction management widely aspired to and increasingly a reality across the industry. Trustees and CIOB members from across the globe were involved in shaping the plan, which centres on the key issues facing the users and creators of the built environment. 

Caroline Gumble, CEO at CIOB, said: “To me this is much more than a simple document. It is the roadmap for the journey CIOB will take over the next five years and beyond, in leading the way to make positive change for the creators of our built environment. 

“It is my ambition that this plan drives delivery on what we all want from this important industry: high standards of quality and safety, improvements in sustainability, and closing the skills gap. As the home for built environment professionals, CIOB must support our members in making that possible. It was incredibly important to me that members had input as, in many ways, it is our members who will bring this document to life.” 

Environmental Sustainability 

The Institute recognised that the construction industry needs to operate in a way that ensures environmental impact is minimal and contributes to a sustainable future.

For that reason it will:  

  • Equip CIOB members (individual and company) with the knowledge and skills to manage and deliver the construction process in environmentally sustainable ways. 
  • Embed environmental sustainability into relevant learning programmes across schools, colleges and universities.  
  • Support industry and stakeholders in building the case for change through environmentally sustainable activities and metrics. 

Quality and Safety 

The Institute noted that good quality buildings and infrastructure promote health, safety and wellbeing, as well as delivering social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits and that the safety of the built environment should be fundamental.

For that reason it aims to:  

  • Bring about a culture change in the industry that ensures quality and building safety are at the heart of everything we do and never sacrificed for profit.  
  • Become the leading provider of education, training and standards in quality and building safety in the built environment, globally. 

Skills Gap 

Finally, CIOB said that the industry must increase productivity to match other mainstream sectors, ensuring the built environment is fit for changing societal needs and a growing population as most worldwide construction markets are reporting a skilled labour shortage.

As a result, the CIOB said it will:  

  • Contribute tangibly to reducing the industry skills shortage across priority skills by 2028.  
  • Help the industry bring in people, from a diverse range of backgrounds, who would not have joined without CIOB’s actions.  
  • Improve the perception and reality of working in the construction industry, by championing diversity, inclusion and worker welfare.  
  • Facilitate smooth, motivating routes within the industry to continually develop the skills of modern professional construction management. 

The full CIOB plan can be found online here

ROCKWOOL ranks amongst world’s most sustainable building products companies

by ConstructionFeatured News

In this year’s Global 100 sustainability ranking from Corporate Knights, ROCKWOOL has been recognised as one of the most sustainable companies in the world overall and the global sustainability leader among Building Products companies.

The annual Corporate Knights Global 100 ranking quantitatively compares and ranks the world’s largest publicly traded companies, emphasising equally the negative impact of a company’s operations as well as the positive impact of its core products and services on people and the planet.

The ranking is based on a rigorous assessment of 6,720 companies with more than 1 BUSD in revenues. According to Corporate Knights, the Global 100 companies also outperform financially, with net total returns beating the MSCI ACWI and other ESG indices since the ranking was created in 2005.

The core material for ROCKWOOL products is stone wool. Made from volcanic rock, it is fully recyclable with multiple inherent properties that make it ideal for many applications. ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation saves far more energy and CO2 – actually 100 times more – than is consumed and emitted during its production.

ROCKWOOL Senior Vice President Mirella Vitale commented on the placement: “We are honoured to be included in the Global 100 together with so many respected companies and to be ranked #1 among building products companies.

“We still have work to do in some areas, but as an energy-intensive heavy manufacturing company, it is especially encouraging to be recognised both for the positive impact of ROCKWOOL products as well as our efforts to decarbonise and otherwise reduce the impact of our operations”.

NFCC calls for tightened rules for Modern Methods of Construction

by ConstructionFeatured News

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has released a Position Statement on Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) calling on the Government for tightened rules for the testing of MMC.

The Council said that the ambition to build homes quickly and sustainably, should not be prioritised at the expense of building safety. Whilst it welcomed the current reform of building safety, it said that significant cultural change in the system must take place to improve competency levels across the sector and ensure that MMC is promoted and used in a manner which provides safe buildings for all.

The MMC position asks for a range of measures to ensure that new construction products and technologies do not contribute to the risk of fire and that there should not be a conflict between sustainability, improved building standards and fire safety.

Gavin Tomlinson, NFCC Protection and Business Safety Scrutiny Committee Chair said: “NFCC is concerned that MMC buildings are being designed, approved and built despite a lack of understanding about their performance. Given the current regulatory system has already been described and accepted by Government as ‘not fit for purpose’ even for traditional construction techniques, this adds additional uncertainty in the built environment.”

Mark Hardingham, Chair of the NFCC commented: “It is vitally important to make sure that products and technologies are safe for use, including their likely performance in a fire, before they are used in the built environment. Not only is this important for safety but it also helps to protect leaseholders from unnecessary costs that can arise when buildings need remediation, or interim measures, including things like waking watches.”

Ben Brook, NFCC lead on Climate Change added: “We are understandably seeing a focus on sustainable building approaches and materials, including the use of timber and living walls. While these may present useful solutions to help reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, they should also be supported by evidence and testing to demonstrate their long-term suitability and safety to provide reassurance for the lifetime of the building.”

NFCC’s position statement on modern methods of construction can be viewed here.