The Construction Leadership Council has now updated its guidance on the Industry Card Scheme to take a more common-sense approach. The move follows confusion over non-construction staff like chefs, vending machine installers and pest controllers being refused entry to sites because they were not CSCS card holders.
Item number 2 in the November 2017 document states: ‘Cards will be required by those working predominantly on construction sites undertaking a recognised construction occupation. Cards will not be issued in respect of non-construction related occupations.’
Read more on the Construction Leadership Council website.
Attendees at FIS’s annual conference earlier this month heard harsh messages and urgent calls for action from its four industry guest speakers regarding the Grenfell fire and building regulations, Brexit, skills shortage and mental health in construction.
Geoff Wilkinson, UK Building Regulations expert, opened the morning session with some hard-hitting facts about the Grenfell Tower fire; 87 sets of human remains had been found in the Tower. “That is the state of the UK construction industry,” said Geoff, linking to the Great Fire of London in 1666 when the first building rules were implemented. Delegates were visibly moved, with many sharing their observations on Twitter which were incorporated into the Live Blog.
Next up was Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association who was downbeat about the construction sector citing Brexit negotiations as bad news for the industry. The UK government labels the sector as low priority within the discussions, even though there are serious skills shortages. Noble reported that activity in commercial offices peaked this year but new orders since the EU Referendum were 19% down in 2016 and 24% down in the first half of 2017.
Tom Barton, executive director of the Get It Right Initiative conducted an interactive session, producing a list of delegates’ views which included poor culture in relation to quality and excessive commercial pressures. “We’ve never got the time to make it right, but we’ve always got the time to put it right” concluded Tom.
Our final speaker, Martin Coyd, head of health and safety at Mace, again touched nerves with the audience when talking about mental health in construction. “Two of our colleagues have killed themselves today,” he said. “If you work in construction, you are 15 times more likely to die from suicide than from an accident.” Anxiety and stress now account for 27 million lost days at work; one in four have a mental health issue in a year, and with as many as 3.6 million people working in the construction industry and supplier side, this is too much to ignore. Change is crucial.
Download the article ‘Get It Right’ as featured in the November 2017 issue of Focus magazine here.
In the November edition of FIS Focus, we hear Change is Coming; read what the experts have to say on the review of building regulations following Grenfell. Mark Farmer says analysis of the construction industry is borne out of a realisation that there are deep-seated systematic problems.
We interview FIS’s new president, Andrew Smith, who took over from Steve Coley at our conference earlier this month. An overview of the event, with key points from Geoff Wilkinson, Noble Francis, Tom Barton and Martin Coyd highlights what is wrong in the industry and ‘How to Get it Right’.
FIS Skills is on a mission to bring about collaborative change to training by connecting employers, colleges and local authorities in overcoming the skills crisis.
October’s winners of the Scottish Awards are featured on pages 29 to 34; a showcase of members’ fantastic projects throughout Scotland.
Download the November edition of FIS Focus via the Publications section of the website.
Andrew Smith, joint managing director, sales and marketing at OWA (UK), took over FIS presidency during our AGM at the conference on 9 November. Andrew has been an active FIS board member for six years, supporting the merger of AIS and FPDC. His priority is to continue the process of developing the organisation by encouraging change and improvement.
The first major event in Andrew’s calendar is the President’s Lunch which takes place on Tuesday 6 February 2018, at Plaisterers’ Hall in London. Here, FIS members can celebrate their employees by nominating them for a President’s Award. Please do support this event by entering the staff that you feel deserve an award – there are four categories: Apprentice of the Year; Outstanding Employee; Future Leader and last, but not least, Lifetime Achievement.
Read the full interview with Andrew Smith in November’s FIS Focus magazine here.
President’s Award nominations and Lunch bookings can be made here.
FIS recently led a roundtable debate, bringing together industry leaders to discuss the problems and solutions needed to improve well-being in office buildings. The event, sponsored by BRE and the International WELL Building Institute, included TV presenter and eco-design expert Oliver Heath who advocates biophilic design.
Attendees shared their ideas on how to make every office fit-out meet the health and well-being needs of its workers; action, not words, was the order of the day. Suggestions were forthcoming, such as encouraging TV broadcasters to produce programmes which look at designing for health rather than focusing on the soft furnishings. Stakeholders need to come together to understand the various requirements of HR and facilities management and how the project manager and designer can address misconceptions with solutions.
The idea of engaging with the media to promote the well-designed office and work environment prompted delegates to speak out on behalf of the office workers. Few make demands of their employers for fear of putting their jobs in jeopardy. However, young people are more health-conscious and will choose their employer based on office surroundings.
Talk turned to the health and well-being of construction workers, not just manual trades, but also the architects, surveyors and project managers who spend a fair amount of time on construction sites.
Well-being is the new ideology and construction is about to face a revolution.
Read the full article from FIS Focus – November 2017 here.
For 10 years, the Urban Renovation Programme in France has spent €20 billion to demolish 120,000 units and to build 100,000, therefore, it is costing €15 billion to lose 20,000 dwellings. At the same time, 2 million people are looking for social housing. So why are they spending money to demolish?
The European Parliament Gypsum Forum was created in 2012 for the promotion of sustainable construction and renovation, with the aim of keeping resources in use for as long as possible. The construction industry is a vital component of growth in Europe where the building stock is significant and demolition is not always the best option. Sustainable renovation will become a key policy issue to address in the years to come for enhancing the sustainability of historic buildings and architectural heritage whilst responding to the needs of an ageing population. The Forum will give a vision and a roadmap for achieving sustainable construction step-by-step throughout the construction supply chain.
The Forum is exploring transformation and renovation to solve the housing crisis; architecture that is holistic, generous and innovative. By providing new life to existing buildings, architects will be in a position to improve the quality of the buildings and their occupants.
The renovation sector, however, needs new and specialised skills. According to the statistic drafted by the European Centre for Professional Training, the construction sector represents just over 6.73% of jobs in Europe. In the field of construction, the new jobs that are to be created mainly concern technician and management positions, focusing on the buildings’ physics and materials. As Gypsum is quite a low-carbon material compared to other materials, it provides opportunity for efficient buildings.
Eurogypsum, the European Plaster and Plasterboard Manufacturers, manages the Forum. An industry which covers the whole lifecycle of products and solutions for construction, Eurogypsum has the expertise to provide a framework for policy discussion on sustainable construction.
Learn more about affordable solutions to overcome the challenges in urban housing by watching the Forum’s video report here.
A summary of last month’s data from the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI® revealed that construction activity rose slightly in October, but optimism fell to its lowest for almost five years.
Other key findings include:
Marginal upturn in construction output, led by housing activity
Civil engineering and commercial building decline again in October
Confidence regarding 12-month outlook drops to weakest since December 2012
The FIS Conference takes place on Thursday 9 November 2017 from 11 am – 5.30 pm at Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire.
The annual event is attended by around 100 fit-out sector professionals, including FIS members. The morning session – What’s in store for the Sector – will look at Brexit, the General Election and more recently, the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, which are all set to have a major impact on our industry. The afternoon session – Get it Right – focuses on how to reduce errors in construction and save you and your clients money. We will debate the causes and impact of errors in our sector and discuss some of the initiatives to help address these, be it in relation to construction, technology and techniques, process and systems, skills, people or other activities.
View the Agenda and Speakers on our events page here.
Click to view and join the conversation on Twitter via the hashtag #FISconference
Follow events from the day in the Live Blog below.
In the November edition of SpecFinish, we look at the outcome of the CITB Training Levy consensus survey which was put to Levy-paying FIS members during September.
In the technical article, Joe Cilia talks to four suppliers of raised and access floors and asks the question ‘A floor is a floor, isn’t it?’
Read more in the November edition of SpecFinish online via the Publications section of the website or the PDF version here.
In the November edition of FIS Focus, we hear Change is Coming; read what the experts have to say on the review of building regulations following Grenfell. Mark Farmer says analysis of the construction industry is borne out of a realisation that there are deep-seated systematic problems.
In the November edition of SpecFinish, we look at the outcome of the CITB Training Levy consensus survey which was put to Levy-paying FIS members during September.