Government launches consultations on Home Energy Model and Future Homes and Buildings Standards

As mentioned above, on Wednesday (13 December), the Government launched a consultation seeking views on the new Home Energy Model which will replace the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for the energy rating of homes. The wholly updated UK home energy rating system which has been developed by a consortium led by BRE. The Home Energy Model, which has been designed by BRE to replace the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for the energy rating of homes, will be more suited to the technologies required to decarbonise the UK’s housing stock, ahead of the implementation of the Future Homes Standard in 2025.. It is still under development and the Government will implement the first version alongside the Future Homes Standard in 2025. The consultation closes on 6 March 2024.

Separately, the Department also opened a consultation seeking views on the methodology which will assess whether new dwellings demonstrate compliance with the Future Homes Standard. The consultation also closes on 6 March 2024.

 

COP28 ends with an agreement to phase out fossil fuels

On Tuesday (12 December) the COP28 summit ended with a deal signed committing all attending countries to “phase out” fossil fuels. While there is no commitment to entirely stop their use, even the countries with economies most heavily reliant on fossil fuels have signed the agreement committing to the transition away from them. After a fraught negotiation process, this is the first ever climate accord to address the primary driver of warming temperatures.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities releases £80 million for home building on brownfield land

On Tuesday (12 December) the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities released the third and final round of the £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund 2, which is now open to council to build new housing on council-owned brownfield land. This will release land for over 8,000 new homes by March 2028. This is part of a wider £10 billion funding boost to housing projects. This also is part of the Government’s plan to build 1 million new homes over this Parliament, with a prioritisation of brownfield land.

Timber in construction roadmap

Alongside the DLUHC announcement, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a policy paper – Timber in construction roadmap. The policy paper outlines the opportunities and barriers to the use of timber in construction in England, centred around seven priority themes: improving data on timber and whole life carbon; promoting the safe, sustainable use of timber as a construction material; increasing skills, capacity, and competency across the supply chain; increasing the sustainable supply of timber; addressing fire safety and durability concerns to safely expand the use of engineered mass timber; increasing collaboration with insurers, lenders, and warranty providers; and promoting innovation and high performing timber construction systems.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK

Tuesday 19 December: There will be a Westminster Hall debate on the adequacy of service accommodation.

Wednesday 20 December: Parliament begins its Christmas recess. Recess will end on Monday 8 January.

CE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Wednesday 24 January 2024 – Constructing Excellence Conference 2024: Delivering Tomorrow Today – Constructing Excellence – Book your place today! (If you require assistance, please get in touch)

COP28

The 28^th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) has concluded its first week. At the heart of negotiations has been a “Global Stocktake” where countries take an inventory of their collective progress to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C this century. This is currently at a draft text stage, with significant division and delays as countries reliant on oil and gas exports for their economy resist measures to curb fossil fuel consumption.

Activity from the UK Government so far includes:

• £1.6 billion of UK funding committed to climate projects
• 100 million pledged for vulnerable countries tackling climate change
• £85 million pledged towards global action to protect rainforests, cut methane emissions and advance low carbon technologies

 

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities launches £7 million High Street Accelerators pilot for long-term regeneration

On Wednesday (6 December), the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities launched a pilot of its new scheme for high street regeneration. Ten struggling high streets will take part, being given £237,000 each for initial partnerships, with a further pool of £5 million that can be applied to improve green and social spaces.

COMING UP THIS WEEK

Monday 11 December: The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill have its Second Reading in the House of Commons.

Monday 11 December: The House of Lords will hear oral questions on the National Infrastructure Commission’s findings that there is no public policy case for hydrogen heating.

Tuesday 12 December: The Built Environment Committee will hear further oral evidence on modern methods of construction.

 

Wednesday 13 December: The House of Lords will hear oral questions on increasing the proportion of social housing built under the Affordable Homes Programme.

Thursday 14 December: The House of Lords will hear oral questions on improving the sustainability and quality of existing buildings, including by cutting VAT to encourage building repairs and maintenance.

CE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Wednesday 24 January 2024 – Constructing Excellence Conference 2024: Delivering Tomorrow Today – Constructing Excellence – Book your place today!

Closing date for nominations: 3rd April 2024.

Our awards are one of the most prominent accolades in the South West’s built environment, a celebration of exemplary practices. They serve as a resounding testament to the inherent success of the construction industry in the region, showcasing its dedication and determination to deliver diverse buildings, housing, infrastructure, and facilities through collaborative and sustainable means.

The winning submissions will go on to become one of the 100 national Awards Finalists to represent the South West in the National Finals and make to the very top of only 13 National Winners! Are you one of them?

ENTER HERE

We invite all organisations and project teams engaged in the successful delivery of buildings and civil engineering projects in the South West to participate in our prestigious awards. We welcome entries from anyone working in the built environment. The essential criterion is that the project, scheme, process, or philosophy significantly contributes to the built environment of the South West and can be celebrated as a remarkable demonstration of best practices.

To qualify for the Constructing Excellence Awards 2024 the project must be worked on at some point between the 1 January 2023 – 31 December 2023. The project does not necessarily need to be complete but, depending on the category we would recommend waiting to nearer or after completion so you can present a more complete submission.

The 2024 CESW Awards will be held at Aerospace Bristol on July 18th.

As part of the National Constructing Excellence awards this year we are launching a revised set of categories that we believe will better reflect the industry today. We’ve tried to make sure that entries can be made simply and this year have invested in an online submissions portal to take you through the process step by step. If you need any support in your submission you can contact the team by email ceswawards@devon.gov.uk

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Dear Constructing Excellence South West Members and Supporters,

As we bid farewell to a year brimming with achievements and growth, I am delighted to reflect on the remarkable journey we’ve shared at Constructing Excellence South West. The past 12 months have been transformative for our organisation, and I am proud to share some of the highlights that define our success.

 

Membership Structure Overhaul:

One of the most significant milestones of the year was our comprehensive review of the membership structure. Focused on delivering enhanced value, we redefined our offerings to align with the evolving needs of our members. This strategic shift has resonated not only positively with our existing members but has also paved the way for an influx of new members, enriching our community with diverse perspectives and expertise.

 

CESW Awards Ceremony:

Our commitment to recognising excellence within our industry came to life at the CESW Awards Ceremony held at Aerospace Bristol. The event was nothing short of spectacular, providing a platform to celebrate our members’ outstanding contributions and achievements. The success of this ceremony underscores the strength and unity within our community, and I extend heartfelt congratulations to all the award recipients.

 

Construction and Housing Summit in Exeter:

The dynamic exchange of ideas and insights reached new heights at the Construction and Housing Summit hosted at The Future Skills Centre in Exeter. This summit served as a hub for collaboration, fostering excellent discussions while exploring solutions to industry challenges. The engagement and enthusiasm displayed by our panellists and attendees reaffirmed our collective dedication to advancing excellence in construction and housing.

Local Club and Theme Group Reinvigoration:

During the next year, we are dedicated to extending the great work of the Chairs and committees of our local clubs and transforming the current theme groups into focus groups. Each group will now provide tailor-made added value to specific areas of significance across the region. This strategic shift aims to cultivate deeper collaboration and knowledge exchange within our community and membership, fostering a more impactful approach to industry-related topics. 

 

The Construction Industry Collaboration Initiative (CICI) Launch:

We were thrilled to announce the launch of The Construction Industry Collaboration Initiative (CICI). This initiative is a testament to our commitment to fostering collaboration and innovation within the construction industry. CICI aims to create a platform for meaningful partnerships, knowledge sharing, and joint initiatives that will drive positive change. The training is behavioural-based, making it suitable for complete supply chains and everyone involved in collaboratively delivering a contract or a project, from the very top down in CICI, we can amplify our impact and contribute to the continued success and advancement of our industry. organisations. We believe that by working together through CICI, we can amplify our impact and contribute to the continued success and advancement of our industry.

 

Upcoming Website Launch in 2024:

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce the imminent launch of our new website in early 2024. This digital platform is designed to provide a seamless and enriched experience for our members, offering easy access to resources, events, and a vibrant community network. We are confident that this upgrade will further strengthen our online presence and facilitate even greater collaboration among our members.

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, I want to express my gratitude to each member, partner, and supporter who has contributed to our success. Constructing Excellence South West is not just an organisation; it is a thriving community driven by shared values and a commitment to excellence. Together, we have achieved much, and together, we will continue to shape the future of our industry.

 

Here’s to another year of innovation, collaboration, and success.

Wishing you all a joyful and prosperous New Year!

 

Warm regards,

 

Kevin Harris 

Chief Executive 

Constructing Excellence South West

Looking back at 2023, two Constructing Excellence publications – ‘The enlightened client’s journey to project quality and compliance’ and ‘The Client Advisor Guide’ – reaffirmed the importance of clients, the key role they play in the success or otherwise of project outcomes, their heterogenous nature, and complexity.

‘The Client Advisor Guide’ reminded us that clients often have difficulty in formulating and articulating their building needs, and that they are not always sufficiently well informed about how to conduct the project they have in mind because they are not directly part of the construction sector. This means our clients and their desired outcomes are, understandably, often challenging for client advisors and construction teams to fathom and understand.

After all, they are the “customer” at the end of an often long and complex supply chain, which doesn’t end there, as beyond them are the users or occupiers of the building. And here’s another factor adding to client complexity: The influence exerted by other powerful project stakeholders, with different, sometimes conflicting. views on how to conduct a project.

This month Martyn Jones argues that clients, their centrality, their complexity, and their often inexperience of construction has once again been brought into even more focus in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, the implementation of the Building Safety Act (2022), and the need to remove and replace combustible cladding to occupied high-risk apartment buildings.

Here, the “client” organisation can be even trickier than normal to unpick and understand. This means designers, project managers and constructors in remediating cladding must work even harder to bridge the gap with the “client”, make sense of its organisation, and establish who is the “Employer” mandating the project.

And to look beyond the commissioning client to the other highly influential stakeholders such as building owners, developers, managing and property agents, or residents with management responsibilities under Right to Manage (RTM) or Resident Management Companies (RMC).

RTM, under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, provides the opportunity for flat owners to run their own affairs and to make their own decisions about the management and upkeep of their flats and common areas, including insurance, repairs, service charges etc.

An RMC is created when a developer completes the building and wants to hand over management control to the leaseholders by setting up a company to manage communal areas including corridors, hallways, staircases, roofs and so on. Both RTM and RMC are seen as fairer solutions to managing apartment blocks but both come with significant responsibilities for residents.

But most residents lack property management expertise and so RMTs and RMCs often employ managing property companies, adding yet another player in the “client’s” complex setup, who along with residents, find themselves post-Grenfell being unexpectedly thrust into the role of construction client or “Employer” for major multi-million-pound remediation projects.

There are new roles too: Under the Building Safety Act 2022, Accountable Persons (APs) and the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) have roles and duties in managing the fire and structural safety risks of high-risk residential buildings. Responsibilities include registering their building, assembling a safety case, and assessing and managing the risks posed to people in and about their building from structural failure or the spread of fire in the parts of the building for which they are responsible.

High-rise apartment blocks house diverse communities of residents. Ensuring the wellbeing of this cross section of society from young to old, from fit to infirm, with a wide range of needs, presents a major issue for contractors as they work cheek by jowl with residents, over many months, and having to deal with noise, dust, and other hazards.

So, where does the 15mm come from? Well, operatives and their supervisors need to work just millimetres away – often the thickness of the internal plasterboard lining – away from residents. This requires working empathy and appropriate behaviours particularly given that most residents will be already be to some extent feeling vulnerable.

They will have experienced significant trauma (including, according to research from Sheffield University, stress, depression, suicidal feelings, and PTSD) from living for months and often years in buildings deemed to be high risk. And for the owners of flats there is financial uncertainty to factor in too as the value of their investment falls, in many cases to zero as their flats are deemed to be unsellable.

Thankfully help is here: We now have a government Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings, which the government expects everyone to follow. It places residents’ needs at the heart of all remediation, setting clear expectations of those commissioning, undertaking, and managing remediation projects.

Alongside this we have the longstanding Considerate Constructors’ Scheme and its Code of Considerate Practice. Although not yet specifically including residents of high-risk buildings it embodies the high standards the industry can and should achieve in caring for the environment and valuing the workforce, but in this context respecting the community.

But as argued earlier, the complexity of the “client’s” internal team needs to be addressed too. Here an agreed organisational structure with a clear statement of roles and responsibilities is vital. And there needs to be clear channels between the parties for the flow of information, the reporting of progress, and the reassurance to residents guaranteeing the final performance of the new cladding.

These provide a basis for empathetic discussions between the “client” and remediation teams on communication and the planning and execution of the works. But further best practice guidance is needed and that’s why Constructing Excellence SW has set up a subgroup of our Building Safety Theme Group to identify and share best practice in reconciling resident wellbeing with efficiency and productivity improvements.

‘Good resolutions are simply cheques that people draw on a bank where they have no account.’ Oscar Wilde

It’s that time of year again when stuffed with food and drink that we didn’t need, yet thoroughly enjoyed, that we return to work refreshed and full of optimism for the year ahead. We may possibly also have made a New Year’s resolution or two.

Many people like this time of year to think about what they are going to do, change or improve in their lives.

In going about this we need to recognise that as a human we act, feel, and perform in accordance with what we perceive to be true not just about the world around us but also, our self.

What we need to understand is that the mind is a powerful thing but unfortunately, it is far from honest.

Many people will go no further and give up reading this article here; they believe that they are pretty perfect and good at what they do and can see no need to change or look to improve.

These people need to appreciate that everything that we see, hear, and think is ‘filtered’ in our mind by our beliefs, for it is these beliefs that convey to us a sense of ‘what is’. Our beliefs help us to interpret and make sense of ‘our world’, yet we selectively perceive only a part of the total world around us.

We make assumptions that are consistent with our beliefs and ignore or ‘discount’ those that are not. As a consequence many of our beliefs may not be factual even though to us they may be ‘the truth’ and will vary in how absolute they are. This is, for instance, why many people believe that they are the ‘finished product’ and not a work in progress.

Recognising that our beliefs are our best but often flawed thinking about something, someone, or our self, limits us in how we behave, act, live our life, and crucially in this context, how we relate to and work with others.

If we are going to be more effective and productive in what we do in both our life and work (and why wouldn’t we want to?) we need to appreciate that we are not a world on our own but are reliant upon people around us if we are to be both happy and successful.

Inter-personal relationships come in basically four categories: family, friends, romantic partners and

colleagues at work. No matter which category, they are complex for within each of these are a mix of expectations and perceptions where the beliefs by both parties are ‘filtered’ as to how we see ourselves and others see us.

The three main filters comprise of:

Deletions – occur where we ‘delete’ some of the information available to us by ignoring or leaving out a portion of the data. Given the sheer amount of information – ‘stimuli’ – that confronts us each and every second of the day we can only consciously process a small proportion if we are to remain well-balanced. It is therefore important to ensure that we don’t ‘delete’ the useful bits.

Distortions – here we chose, primarily unconsciously, to alter, misrepresent, mistake, or twist information in order for it to fit with the mental image – the model of the world – we currently hold. It is important to recognise that not all distortions are necessarily un-helpful, some can be useful.

Generalisations – these are broad statements that are not entirely true (they may contain a deletion or a distortion or both) because they oversimplify situations, stereotype, or make general conclusions without recognising the exceptions to ‘our rules’. Similar to distortions, generalisations can be a mix of both helpful and un-helpful information with much learning in our life actually taking place through the use of generalisations.

‘Filling in’ in the deletions, understanding the distortions, and recognising the generalisations that we and others are making through our interactions and relationships is the foundation for forming meaningful resolutions – Wilde’s ‘cheques’ – through which we can change and develop our relationships.

The ‘bank with no account’ that Wilde remarks upon is held by ‘the branch’ of self-discipline; an account that many are unable to draw upon to turn a resolution into an action, a change, or an improvement. Awareness is key to opening this account helpful for the joint account here is ‘self-awareness’ – that of ‘being aware’.

With that thought, research suggests that New Year resolutions begun on the 1st January are most likely to be given up by the 12th January[1] and importantly, a habit change – most often a resolution – can take 66 days of commitment to fully take effect[2].

Smart people – and wouldn’t you like to join them – don’t make resolutions, for they are fully aware of Wilde’s observation. These smart people make firm commitments to themselves that they keep and particularly to other people whom they know will hold them to account.

Why don’t you make a commitment now and sign up for our next training course to improve your interpersonal effectiveness and collaboration with others as few if many people have ever had any training in this vitally important behavioural skill: Our training dates @ CICI (leadersmeets.com)

[1] British Dietetic Association (2017) research reported in Sunday Times, 31st December, 2017.

[2] Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012) ‘Making health habitual: The psychology of ‘habit formation’ and general practice’, British Journal of General Practice, 62, pp 664-666

 

‘Introduction to Collaboration and Collaborative Working’

Tuesday the 19th of March 2024, 9am-5pm

Exeter College Future Skills Centre, Exeter, EX5 2LJ

In a recent CICI survey (September 2023) some 75% of respondents from across the Constriction sector reported that ‘they had not received any training in collaboration or working collaboratively’.

You are most likely to be one of these and with 90% of respondents (in the same survey) reporting that ‘they collaborate in the daily work with people from other organisations in delivering a project or contract’ the time to act is now.

You can sign up to our one-day training day HERE at £275 per person – discounted for Gold, Silver and Bronze CESW members

Have you listened to the G4C South West podcasts yet?

To date the G4C eam have interviewed people in the following roles:

Operations Manager (Contractor)

Geophysicist

Project Manager

Solicitor

Director of construction company

Town Planner

Geo-environmental engineer

Quantity Surveyor

Construction apprentice – Quantity Surveying

Architect

Structural Engineer

Building Surveyor

Groundworker

Technology and software developer

Construction apprentice – Development

Sustainability and growth

Listen today on Audioboom

Join us for an incredible opportunity with Exeter College Future Skills which has partnered with Constructing Excellence South West in creating a new Skills Advisory Panel bringing uniformity to our reach for much-needed skills and trades.

Whilst we orchestrate the model for how this looks, Exeter’s latest offer promotes an ability to elevate your skills in sustainable retrofit construction practices with their specialised courses tailored for industry professionals within these cost-efficient short courses.

Read full information HERE

Enroll now to secure your spot and propel your career towards a greener, more sustainable future!

 

Available Training Weeks

W/c 15/01/24

W/c 22/01/24

W/c 05/02/24

W/c 19/02/24

W/c 04/03/24

W/c 11/03/24

W/c 08/04/24

W/c 15/04/24