Brownfield Sites

In another excellent article by Roger Milne (see below) we see the George Osborne may well finally be the man to enable more houses to be built where people want to and have to live. The simple fact is that we need more houses and we have only used a fraction of the land that is suitable (not including Green belt, farming, etc, etc) to be built upon. The reason we are short of suitable (in all ways - size and location) housing is because planning authorities will not free up land for house building.

Chancellor George Osborne promised a further raft of planning reforms when he delivered his summer budget this week, but exactly what will not be unveiled until Friday 10 July.

In his budget speech Osborne insisted the administration remained wedded to the development of a ‘Northern Powerhouse’. He confirmed new powers for the new elected mayor of Greater Manchester and the creation of city-wide land commission.

He committed £30m to establish Transport for the North as a statutory body with statutory responsibilities.

Osborne launched a transport devolution package for the North which will include working on an Oyster-style smart and integrated ticketing system across bus, tram metro and rail services covering the North’s mayor-led city regions.

Osborne said the government was working towards further devolution deals with the Sheffield City region, Liverpool City region and Leeds, West Yorkshire and partner authorities.

A devolution deal is also progressing involving Cornwall and there are ambitious proposals for a “strong and coherent” West Midlands combined authority and proposals for two from East Midland authorities.

The Chancellor announced the government would invite bids for a new round of Enterprise Zones. It has pledged continuing support – and a further £90m – to help coastal areas via the Coastal Communities Fund which will carry on until 2020. The administration has published a discussion paper on regional airports.

In addition, the government has promised to introduce a “new approach” to station redevelopment and commercial land sales on the rail network building on the experience of regenerating land around Kings Cross Station and Stratford in east London.

Ministers will establish a dedicated body to focus on “pursuing opportunities to realise value from public land and property assets in the rail network to both maximise the benefit to local communities and reduce the burden of public debt”.

www.gbs-designs.co.uk

Tidal Power

In an interesting article that leads on from my last blog entry. Oxford University has been researching the uses of tidal power. See http://www.construction-manager.co.uk/news/oxford-uni-spin-plans-143m-tidal-energy-fence for more details.

Being an island nation, we have a good amount of tides that could be a useful source of power.

www.gbs-designs.co.uk

To frack or not to frack

In another interesting artcile by Roger Milne (see below), Lancashire County Council have approved a site on the Flyde coast.

What do not understand is why big companies are wasting money and resources on new or today's technology to find yesterday's fuel when they should investing money in renewable energy such as solar photovoltaic cells, wind farms, wave power and such like.

With modern buildings being built to higher and higher standards of efficiency, and some already having solar panels on the buildings that put energy back into grid the pursuit of gas and oil seems pointless to me.

Also, renewable energies give much greater freedom to a country and break any hold that another country may have over the supply of energies such as gas and oil.


Lancashire County Council planners have recommended that test fracking should be allowed at one of two sites on the Fylde coast.

This follows applications from energy company Cuadrilla to use fracking to extract shale gas at Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood.

The application for Little Plumpton has been recommended for approval. Roseacre Wood has been recommended for refusal because of the impact on road safety caused by increased lorry traffic.

If approved it would be the first time a planning authority has backed an application to frack, drill and test flow the gas and the first fracking since tests near Blackpool in 2011 which caused small earth tremors.

In a separate but related development, the Environment Agency is consulting on environmental permits to allow Third Energy to carry out test-fracking at a site near the village of Kirby Misperton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire. A planning application is due to be submitted to the county council shortly.

Meanwhile, the government has denied that fracking applications will receive less environmental scrutiny from the public following proposals from the Environment Agency to introduce standardised testing for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells.

In a joint statement from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Environment Agency, the government insisted: “The process for operators to apply for a fracking permit has not changed. Any operator wanting to undertake fracking needs to apply for an environmental permit, conduct an environmental impact assessment and apply for planning permission. This is open to full public consultation.”

www.gbs-designs.co.uk

Planning News Roundup

Some interesting news this week from the Planning Portal.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/general/news/stories/2015/Mar15/190315/190315_6

www.gbs-designs.co.uk

Degree Apprenticeships

Having recently seen our apprentice become qualified I read this with great interest:

The Construction Index
Construction News
Fri March 13th 2015
Extract:

Chartered surveying is one of nine degree apprenticeships that the government has announced in addition to four that have previously been developed. The previous ones include construction.

The latest ones are more engineering focused and include electronic systems engineering, aerospace engineering, aerospace software development, defence systems engineering and, er, public relations.

The idea of degree apprenticeships is that they combine aspects of higher and vocational education, in much the same way as a traditional sandwich course placement.

Groups of businesses, universities and colleges are developing vocational degree courses that allow people to combine both academic study from a traditional university degree with practical experience.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Degree apprenticeships will give people a great head start, combining a full degree with the real practical skills gained in work and the financial security of a regular pay packet. They will bring the world of business and the world of education closer together, and let us build the high-level technical skills needed for the jobs of the future. I want to see many more businesses and universities begin to offer them.”

Higher apprentices are already able study to degree level as part of their apprenticeship but degree apprenticeships will go further, the government said. They will involve a degree as an integral part of the apprenticeship, co-designed by employers so that it is relevant for the skills industry requires.

As with other apprenticeships, the cost of course fees are shared between government and employers, meaning that the apprentice can earn a full bachelors or even masters degree without paying any fees.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) welcomed the move. External affairs director Kim Worts said: “RICS is delighted to be part of new apprenticeship reforms. For the first time we will provide degree apprenticeships for trainee surveyors, leading to chartered status (MRICS).”

The first chartered surveying degree apprenticeships will be open to entrants from September 2015 in England. Surveying apprentices will undertake a part-time undergraduate degree and gain in-work experience and training over a period of four to five years.

Engineering Employers Federation chief executive Terry Scuoler said: “There has been a noticeable gap in higher-level provision that combines both vocational and academic learning, and degree apprenticeships are the opportunity to fill this gap. For employers and learners alike, degree apprenticeships are a good step forward. Learners earn while they learn to a degree level and employers have access to relevant, responsive, highly-skilled employees.”

Organisations involved in developing the chartered surveying degree apprenticeship scheme are: Gardiner and Theobald, Axis, DTZ, Faithorn Farrell Timms, DSB Construction Consultants, Valuation Office Agency, Transport for London, EC Harris, Martin Arnold Associates, Collier & Madge, CBRE, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, London Southbank University and Birmingham City University.

To read more see HERE

www.gbs-designs.co.uk

From Apprentice to Technician

Without a shadow of doubt, one of the huge joys of the past 2 years has been taking the rough diamond that was our apprentice and helping her become the polished jewel that is now our technician.

Is AutoCAD about to die?!

Is AutoCAD about to die?!

This is not something I ever expected to hear. I've been using AutoCAD since 1989 (yes, I that old or I was just an early adopter) and have been a fan ever since. But in recent years the price has rocketed. So, imagine my delight when I found progeCAD from www.progesoft.com and check it out. I've been using AutoCAD LT 2010 for the last few years and after trialling progeCAD on a project I can tell you that it works in exactly the same way - all the commands; everything and I mean everything. All the favourite commands, the command line, the icons, EVERYTHING!!!

I've tested several AutoCAD alternative over the years (including DoubleCAD and TurboCAD LTE) and I can safely say that progeCAD (which is Swiss by the way and so likely to stay around) is the best.

Plus with the current version of AutoCAD LT retailing at over £1200.00 and the annual licence option running at £285.00, just what do Autodesk think they're doing. LT is supposed to stand for 'light version'. £1250.00?!!! That isn't light. What Autodesk need to do is release a light version of their light version!

Where as progeCAD is £186.75 and it's 3D!!!

You can read more about the engine that powers progeCAD at www.intellicad.org and on other website.