The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond gave his first Spring Statement on 13th March, and used this to highlight some key issues facing the construction industry. Whilst telling the country that our “best days lie ahead of us”, the chancellor touched on the late payments issue and its effect on the UK’s small businesses. Hammond called for evidence on “how we can eliminate the continuing scourge of late payments”.
David Frise has been appointed chief executive of the Building Engineering Specialists Association with immediate effect and he says his key goal is to raise the profile of engineers in the sector because they have a 'vital social and economic role to play'.
The BREEAM Awards 2018 took place on March 6th at Excel, in partnership with the Ecobuild exhibition, and saw an international audience enjoy an evening which recognised sustainable building projects of all types.
The Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA) is warning of issues over incorrect and potentially harmful handling of refrigerants for air conditioning. FETA has advised that there have been some instances of R410A (classified as A1, nonflammable) being completely removed from some air conditioning systems which are then simply recharged with R32 (classed as A2L, low flammability).
BESA has been appointed as a Registered End Point Assessment Organisation (RoEPAO) which allows it to assess new training standards in England. This follows the Association’s appointment in 2017 as an officially-registered New Standard apprentice delivery body able to operate across the UK.
Around 80% of engineering services firms say turnover increased or was steady during the final quarter of 2017, according to new findings from the sector-wide Building Engineering Business Survey, sponsored by Scolmore.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has approved the Arbn Consult (Arbnco) reporting software for use in registering exemptions for the MEES legislation.
OFTEC has restated its calls for an overhaul of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) following a recent report from the National Audit Office (NAO) which confirms the scheme ‘has not achieved value for money’.
Experts are pointing out that Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are not a good indication of energy efficiency for buildings. The growing calls for other ways to indicate building energy use come as Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) are introduced this month.
The Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has raised concerns that the UK’s increasing reliance on digital infrastructure puts it at risk of hacker attacks.
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