Housing developer Berkeley St Edward has won big at the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, being named as the winner in the Housebuilding and Property Development Sector.

Berkeley St Edward, which has 10 sites across London and the South, received its award at a gala dinner at ExCeL London last Tuesday, June 18.

The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards are open to organisations of all sizes from across the wide spectrum of industries, all over the world. The sector awards are presented to organisations with outstanding performance in health and safety within a particular industry or sector. Entrants must be able to demonstrate a robust and high-quality safety management system, together with a minimum of four years’ consistently excellent or continuously improving health and safety performance.

The NextGeneration initiative, which benchmarks the sustainability performance of the UK’s largest homebuilders, has selected Redrow to receive the 2019 NextGeneration Innovation Award. This is awarded to a homebuilder that has demonstrated initiatives that go far beyond the criteria used for the benchmark. This award builds on Redrow’s success in 2018 where they won gold for the third year in a row in the NextGeneration Benchmark.

Redrow has secured this prestigious award in recognition of its commitment to supporting healthy communities by developing a unique social value calculator.

Created in partnership with research consultancy Simetrica, Redrow’s social value calculator’s assessment methods are consistent with the guidance advocated in HM Treasury’s Green Book on quantifying the social impact of its policies.

The housebuilder’s innovative calculator presents a monetary value against individual outcomes over a 25-year period, the typical length of a mortgage. For example, the tool calculated that over 25 years, 1 hectare of green space could contribute £9.7 million of social value, while having a pub, bar or restaurant in close proximity to a development can generate around £1.9 million.

A nationwide homelift company has extended the distance its latest range of domestic lifts can travel by half a metre to a maximum of 4.5 metres. Stiltz Homelifts has rolled out the product update, which meets the BS EN 81-41 European standard for lifts traveling over three metres, to the Stiltz Duo+ Homelift and Stiltz Trio+ Homelift models.

The longer travel option allows the company’s authorised partners to reach out to end users with more varied types of property, such as period buildings or homes with high ceilings. 

While it is certainly true that it’s possible to buy a submersible pump very cheaply, problems may not be far away.

For a one-off use these pumps might just do the job. However, if you need to rely on a submersible drainage pump for constant, day in day out use, for the protection of your basement or essential drainage, then selecting the right make and model is worthy of careful consideration.

In short, yes, your home can make you ill. Even if your home complies with UK building regulations, it can still make you ill – both physically and mentally. That may sound astonishing but plenty of evidence is emerging to prove the impact our homes (and workplaces) are having on our health.

A healthy building is one which enhances the health and well-being of its occupants and its surrounding environment, rather than actively working against it. Read on if you’d like to understand why our homes will be healthier in years to come and to see a practical guide on what makes a home healthy.

The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the home, a place to clean and groom and a space where you can relax and unwind away from the hustle and bustle of the main house. Bathroom design is constantly evolving as manufacturers use the latest technology and materials to produce an array of bathroom products in a range of styles, from traditional fixtures to ultra-modern designs.

Now available is the Rinnai HDC 1200i continuous flow hot water unit with the capacity to deliver in excess of 1500 litres of temperature accurate hot water per hour, with an overall gross efficiency of more than 95%.  These levels of performance, with unbeatable efficiency levels, mean the Rinnai 1200i is more than capable of meeting and exceeding the hot water demands of all applications.    

Tony Gittings of Rinnai looks at the changes that have now become a permanent and developing part of the domestic heating and hot water marketplace selling direct to the consumer, bypassing the traditional supply route

There is a 15 second iPhone video clip on Twitter at the moment of a big lad, full of muscles, destroying a door inside a building. It takes him two punches, one kick and both his hands to wrench the door right off its hinges. Accompanying this is some very stark copy which talks about how he’d had a job booked in to install a boiler, but he had lost out on price to one of the big, direct-to-consumer online brand names. His fury carries over from the film to the text with some very explicit language.

The UK construction industry is shifting to favour healthy materials over their synthetic alternatives and as a result, the use of lime in buildings is seeing a significant revival.

That revival isn’t limited to historic building conservation projects though, we’re starting to think about how our building materials are influencing our well-being, prompting us to make healthier choices.

Industry-leading systems supplier VEKA UK Group has unveiled an exclusive ultramatt material unlike anything else in the industry.

This innovative surface, called SPECTRAL, is exclusive to VEKA UK Group and was launched at the FIT Show where it was welcomed with fantastic feedback, being hailed the ‘star of the stand’.

Marketing Director Dawn Stockell explains: “This unique product uses ground-breaking technology to create an ultrasmooth, ultramatt finish that has unrivalled performance benefits.

Ryan and Rebecca lived in a small flat in the pleasant town of Enfield but seven years ago, when their first daughter was born they decided to buy a bigger place.

Keen to remain in the same sought-after area of Greater London they came across a 1930s three-bed terraced house that had great potential to renovate and extend.

Continuous improvements and modifications in the Schueco range of sliding doors help to secure the company’s deserved reputation as the UK’s leading system innovator. The latest sliding door range has the advantage of being modular and fully scalable thus maximising architects’ freedom to choose, whatever the type of project.

The new Schueco ASE 60 and 80.HI range of sliding doors is an important development not just for the company but also, more importantly, for clients and end-users.

Increasing support for buildings and infrastructure that require non-invasive ground improvements

20^th May 2019: Global ground engineering solutions provider, Mainmark, has bolstered its UK division by welcoming four new experts, from across the ground engineering and geotechnical industry, to the team. The new hires come as Mainmark continues to expand further into sectors including rail and highways, and will increase the support already provided for commercial businesses and residential properties that require ground improvements.

New research of British homeowners has revealed the most popular front door colours in a range of towns and cities across the UK.

‘The Face of Britain’s Front Doors’ from Harvey Water Softeners comes as part of its campaign to uncover what elements the British public think can help visitors to feel at home in someone else’s property. The results showcase the front door trends for 17 towns and cities across the South East of England in a series of visuals to establish the palettes of choice for homeowners across the region.

While black and white were ever present across all of the regions featured in the research, the variety and spread of other colours varies drastically between locations, with the coastal locations of Brighton and Eastbourne, and Hampshire’s Basingstoke and Winchester displaying a diverse array of colours when it comes to front door design.

Featuring more than 500m2 of tiling on three floors and seven bathrooms, The Gart is a fabulous example of a high quality, modern tiling, completed despite a challenging design brief from the project’s artist owner.

Tiling in the property took more than a year and was completed by Wesley Geraghty from Atlas Tiling contractors.

An outstanding domestic project, The Gart offers amazing contemporary interiors with 13 luxury bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and an array of amenities including a games room, piano room, a 100 foot long reception room and its very own gin and whiskey bar. There is a beautiful kitchen and fabulous dining room , complete with bespoke dining chairs featuring the artist owner’s work from The Savoy in London.

Valued at £1.75 million, the property required tiling of the highest order with expert craftsmanship to fulfil a challenging design brief that incorporated an array of tile types and intricate designs on challenging substrates.

A handsome stone-built Scots baronial country house – it dates back to 1835 – and was rebuilt and extended after a fire in 1901.

Croydex’s new 2019 centenary catalogue showcases 54 new and exciting products to suit any bathroom. It plays homage to the companies’ vintage roots with a journey through time taking inspiration from previous catalogues and logos. After 100 years of trading, the bathroom accessories specialist isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Adding sophistication to your bath and shower set up is the brand new range of Amalfi shower handsets, which are available in a selection of functions, and the popular bamboo bath bench, which offers additional storage with a luxurious finish. Also available are a selection of new anti-microbial bath mats and a selection of elegant light pulls.

The Croydex Inclusive offerings have also been strengthened by the addition of the Serenity Shower Chair. The chair was developed and tested by the in-house design team to ensure the highest standard of showering experience is had. It features adjustable legs, a curved back for added comfort and the option of an additional seat cushions in either white or grey.