The CIJC has agreed new pay rates effective from Monday 10 July. There is a 6% increase in pay (8% for general operatives), as well as increases in travel and subsistence allowances and sick pay. There will be further increases from 1 January 2024 and the rates should be read in conjunction with the Working Rule Agreement and Holiday Entitlement 2023.
Earlier this month, JCT announced that the next update to its suite of contracts will be the JCT 2024 Edition.
Digital working will continue to be a main feature of the JCT suite with JCT 2024, which will be published exclusively via JCT’s Construct subscription service, as well as On Demand digital and traditional hardcopy.
The main features of JCT 2024 include updates and changes corresponding with the following workstreams:
More information is available here
Television presenter and award-winning designer Anna Campbell-Jones will be the star guest at this year’s Green Home Festival, which is again being organised by the Construction Industry Collective Voice (CICV), of which FIS is a key member.
The co-host and judge of hit BBC Scotland show Scotland’s Home of the Year will be a guest speaker at the second week-long event, which starts in 50 days as part of the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Anna will discuss low-carbon living as part of the Ingredients for a Greener Kitchen show on the first day of the free festival, which will host 11 in-person and virtual sessions from 14-18 August to help consumers on the journey to net zero.
The interior designer – who won Scottish Influencer of the Year last October – said:
“I am delighted to be taking part in this year’s Green Home Festival and to be able to help raise the profile of eco-friendly living for consumers across Scotland.
“Finding greener ways of designing, decorating and renewing our homes will be vital for us all going forward and creating more low-carbon kitchens will be a key part of that.
“In particular, I feel passionately that the era of ‘fast fashion’ for interiors must come to an end. Kitchens are a significant contributor to unrecyclable landfill and I’m going to talk about alternative approaches to the concept of what we mean by ‘getting a new kitchen’.”
Anna starred in the grand finale of Scotland’s Home of the Year on Monday night (26 June), and also won the interiors and design award at the inaugural Scottish Influencer Awards in Glasgow in October 2022.
She will now star alongside experts from Scottish Water, plumbing body SNIPEF, electrical trade association SELECT and James Alan Construction, who will all share their first-hand knowledge and advise on what to consider when planning and renovating a kitchen.
Festival co-organiser Gordon Nelson, Scotland Director of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) said:
“We are delighted to welcome Anna to this year’s Green Home Festival and look forward to hearing her invaluable input and expertise on greener living.
“Like all our shows, Ingredients for a Greener Kitchen will deliver a wealth of practical advice, focusing on the vital areas that can make kitchens eco-friendly – water efficiency, electrical efficiency and sustainably sourced materials and units.”
Other Green Home Festival shows to be delivered during the week include green garden rooms and offices, making retrofit projects eco-friendly, the potential of microwave heating, converting churches, and how the home of the future will be powered.
The event will also include a dedicated heat pump day, with experts hosting two separate shows to advise on how to reduce bills, access grants and install the new technology, as well as the options for hybrid heating.
Plus the experts from Built Environment – Smarter Transformation will host an in-person show on the advantages of community heat networks and an online webinar that will advise what consumers can do to reduce both their energy consumption and energy bills.
Mr Nelson added: “With 50 days to go, and with all the events now confirmed, the second Green Home Festival is shaping up to be as big a success as last year’s inaugural event.
“With a strong focus on accessing funding and saving money, our experts will offer practical demonstrations of low-carbon technology that consumers can put into action as we move towards becoming a net zero nation.”
The Green Home Festival is the latest in a string of practical and constructive initiatives launched by the CICV since its creation as the Construction Industry Coronavirus (CICV) Forum in March 2020.
Made up of 28 trade associations, professional services bodies and companies, including FIS, it has maintained a steady supply of information and practical advice to the sector as well as carrying out surveys, producing animations and posters, hosting webinars and maintaining close dialogue with Scottish Government ministers.
Following the issue of PPN 03/23 earlier this year, which allows public sector bodies to use the Common Assessment Standard in place of PAS 91, Build UK will be publishing an updated version of the Common Assessment Standard on 1 July 2023.
Version 3.2 will include minor updates to the question set and associated guidance to reflect further legislative changes post‐Brexit and to provide additional clarity for companies being certified.
The Common Assessment Standard is reviewed every year to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the industry. It is anticipated that further changes may be required following the introduction of the Building Safety Act, which will be confirmed once the secondary legislation has been published later this year, and members can suggest other changes for inclusion in Version 4 by completing this online form.
FIS has aligned its own ongoing vetting process to the CAS. Commenting on this, FIS Technical Manager James Parlour said:
Much of what we do in membership vetting depends on the existing accreditations of contractors, which is often already considered through various pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ). FIS is very keen to see more widespread adoption of mutual recognition in this environment and is pleased to support the common assessment standard and respect the work of our members by aligning our vetting criteria with it.
FIS is aware of a report raised through CROSS (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures UK) that highlights a potential gap in understanding around testing of fire-resistant glazed doors and screens. The particular issue concerns the construction of the threshold in the supporting construction and the incongruence with typical threshold constructions on sites with raised access floors.
The report can be viewed on the CROSS website HERE.
CROSS is a confidential reporting system which allows professionals working in the built environment to report on fire and structural safety issues. These are then published anonymously to share lessons learned, create positive change, and improve safety.
FIS has compiled a questionnaire to support a consolidated construction response to the latest HMRC consultation on the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
It considers whether it would be appropriate to add VAT to the list of taxes HMRC must consider when undertaking the statutory compliance test for receiving or keeping Gross Payment Status (GPS). It seeks views on how adding VAT could be given effect and the consequences for those affected.
In addition, the consultation sets out two areas where stakeholders have told HMRC that the operation of the CIS is causing unnecessary administrative burdens: landlord/tenant payments; and multiple reporting requirements by some groups. It seeks views on the scope and impact of those burdens, and the government’s proposals for removing or reducing them.
FIS members can access the June edition of JTC Newsline. This issue looks at the advisory fuel rates from 1st June 2023; the change in the self-assessment threshold and further details on the construction industry scheme consultation.