Welcome to the Construction Element Blog

You will find our latest articles on topics in Construction and related industries below.

Labour Party to provide £350 million to schools in Croydon???

September 29th, 2009

I have recently read many news paper articles that the Labour Government will be providing £350million pounds to 10 new schools and modernisation of old schools. Apparently this is a top priority to Labour MP Malcolm Wicks! How will this affect the actual community? Will small local construction companies get a look in or will it again be another device for the larger contractors to take control of what goes on in Croydon. It has been seemingly frustrating for myself as the Managing Director of a small fit out company that there is an influx of work in the Borough that will not be distributed fairly. We provide the local council with revenue to progress and also local people with work. Some how this does not seem fair!

Kyashii London Re-opening.

September 17th, 2009

Kyashii London 4A St. Martins Lane, London. W1.

Construction Element have been appointed by Kyashii London’s new owners to Project Manage the re-opening of their recent acquisition.  Kyashii London are using Construction Elements Commercial Refurbishment Services to completely refurbish the private dining area, modifying areas to the new Managers concepts, modifications to existing  mechanical and electrical lay out, modifications to lighting lay out, renewing of soft furnishings and deep clean in preparation to hand over to new restaurant Manager. We will be commencing on site as from the 21 st September. Watch out for the opening party!

Kyashii London Fit out.

Kyashii London Fit out.

Have you got builders working for you? Do you know what they need to comply with?

August 24th, 2009

 Title: Nearly 40% of subcontractors lose work over safety issues

Source: Building

Almost 40% of subcontractors are losing work and damaging their reputation over health and safety issues, warranty provider the NHBC has warned.

The news has prompted the NHBC to launch its own health and safety support service.

Existing CDM Regulations state that contractors and subcontractors must be able to demonstrate competence on every new tender to ensure health and safety will be managed effectively. This includes a need to have a health and safety policy in place to ensure employees are appropriately trained.

But the NHBC claims self-certification is eating up time and money, and remains an issue which even competent subcontractors are reportedly hesitant about, which can result in them losing bids for work.

The council said it had subsequently designed SafeMark - a third party pre-qualification assessment scheme aimed at helping the house building industry. It has been designed to save time, involving an initial assessment, and remaining valid for a year.

Commenting on the new scheme, health and safety manager at the NHBC Simon Mantle said: “It is vital that subcontractors are fully prepared for all health and safety issues and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is having a real push on competence to reflect this.”

“We know from our research that many subcontractors across the industry are competent - it’s just a question of proving it. For some, and particularly smaller firms, the administration involved with this is simply not practical.”

SafeMark is accredited to the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) standard.

Read more: http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3145847&c=0#ixzz0MYW30EDx

Epsom Ladies day 05/06/09

June 8th, 2009

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Thank you to every one that turned up on the day, fun was had by all especially when the band turned up. I not to sure how the betting went but I tend not to win much.We did not manage to raise as much as we expected due to no shows but we will be adding to the funds out of our own pockets. A big thank you to David Barkerof Hothaus for taking loads of wonderful pictures and also to Makros of Croydon for lending us a Pimms gazebo . We’ll be on it again next year so don’t miss out on the activities.

Apprentices pay their way, says study

May 25th, 2009

Research published by the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network (AAN) reveals that apprentices ‘pay their way’ and employers see a return on their investment.

The average cost and payback time of engineering apprenticeship costs £28,762 (net cost at the end of the apprenticeship) on average – the highest of any subject area – with a payback of less than three years.

One in construction costs £22,043 (payback: less than two years); the cheapest is one in retail, which costs £2,300.

Sir Roy Gardner, chairman of the AAN said the “robust” research make for a strong business case: “The findings confirm that apprentices pay their way and employers see a visible return on their investment in a relatively short period of time.”

Research published by the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network (AAN) reveals that apprentices ‘pay their way’ and employers see a return on their investment.

Ladies Day Epsom Derby.

May 24th, 2009

We  have combined with Conetica to arrange this fund raising event on behalf of the Great Ormond Street Hospital. At £80 a ticket for travel to and from East Croydon Station, food by the M-Bar Leadenhall market and drinks it is a day not to be missed. For tickets please contact Construction Element head office on 0208 686 5742.

We may be over the worst of the recession!

May 24th, 2009

The worst of the recession may now be over, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which said today that Britain is among a handful of countries which may be seeing a pause in its economic slowdown.

Releasing its monthly “composite leading indicator” (CLI) for the world’s major economies, the Paris-based watchdog pointed to “tentative” signs of a slower pace of decline in the UK, Italy, France and China, even though the world economy as a whole remained in deep recession.

The OECD’s leading indicators are a basket of economic data that in the past have had a good record of showing economic turning points.

“Weak though these signals are, they are present in the majority of the CLI component series for these countries,” the OECD said.

“In other major OECD economies the CLIs continue to point to deterioration in the business cycle, but at a decreasing rate. However, with the exception of China, where signs of a pause have also emerged, major non-OECD economies still face deteriorating conditions.”

There have been signs in Britain over the past month that some parts of the economy are getting worse at a slower pace than before, raising hopes that the 1.9% contraction in the economy in the first quarter may mark the worst point of the recession.

But the Bank of England and other major banks think the economy remains in a precarious state with bank lending still almost frozen. And although mortgage approvals and buyers’ enquiries for properties have picked up, prices continue to fall rapidly.

The OECD’s leading indicator for Britain rose by 0.3% in March, although was 5.4% lower than in March last year. France, Italy and China also enjoyed modest upturns in their CLIs.

Germany and Japan, though, which are big exporting countries heavily exposed to the weakness of the world economy, saw no such upturn in their leading indicators. Nor did Russia, the eurozone as a whole, or India.

Interestingly, the United States’s CLI also showed no signs of a trough, even though many economists think that the world’s number one economy could be the first to come out of recession.

Construction Element Blog is live

May 20th, 2009

There will be construction service articles coming from us soon.

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