NEWS All the latest developments from around the building industry In Brief


DEVELOPING GREEN AMBITIONS The UK government has backed a global scheme aimed at helping developing countries to reduce their carbon emissions. The World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness will help countries set up their own carbon trading systems, to allow more investment in green technologies across the world and to help stimulate private- sector low carbon investment opportunities. www.decc.gov.uk


RAMBOLL ACQUIRES GIFFORD Danish engineering firm Ramboll has announced an agreement to acquire Gifford, a leading UK engineering and environmental consultancy. Gifford LLP will join Ramboll UK Ltd to create one of the UK’s strongest and broadest multidisciplinary engineering and consultancy groups, with nearly 1,000 employees. The acquisition forms part of Ramboll’s strategy for growth.


ATKINS CUTS 1,000 JOBS Engineer WS Atkins has confirmed it has cut 1,000 jobs since September, reducing its total number of employees to 17,500. The company said in a trading statement for the year ended 31 March that it was adjusting its workforce to meet challenging market conditions, after increasing numbers to 18,500 in the previous 12 months.


JOHN LEWIS TRIALS FUEL CELL Retail giant John Lewis has agreed to trial alkaline fuel cell technology to generate low carbon electricity at one of its stores. The firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with Surrey- based AFC Energy to look at the potential costs and savings of installing the technology. John Lewis has pledged to reduce its emissions by 15% by 2020.


8 CIBSE Journal May 2011


Schools review calls for streamlining of design


l Report on procurement process leaves some questions unanswered, says critic


Large savings can be made by streamlining the ways schools are procured, designed and built, says the long-awaited James Review set up after the closure of the Building Schools for the Future programme last year. There is often a lack of expertise among those responsible for procuring school buildings – usually head teachers – which has been one of the main reasons that opportunities to improve buildings or reduce costs have been lost, says the report, Independent Review of Education Capital, which was produced by a task force led by Sebastian James, a director at retailer Dixons. James’s central recommendation is an increase


in the remit of Partnership for Schools, which it says should act as a central body in the procurement process and should be involved in negotiating contracts with construction firms. On the standardised approach to drawings and


specifications, the report states that problems have been caused by an ‘ad hoc’ process: ‘Among the many knock-on problems this has created are high costs (of both design and build), variable quality, a need for every school to pass through an arduous cycle of checks and balances and no opportunity for improvement’. The Review recommends that a suite of drawings


and specifications should be developed across a wide range of projects. These drawings should cover the layouts and dimensions of the spaces and walls, and details of how different materials and components


Key recommendations


l The use of standardised, consistently improved and updated drawings and specifications in the design of future school buildings


l The retention of budget for demand-led programmes such as free schools


l The avoidance by the Department of Education of multiple funding streams for investment, which could be managed more productively at a local level


l Apportioning notional budgets to local authorities under a specific process, enabling local and national demands to be prioritised


School design is at the centre of the proposals


will be fixed together. The specifications would be a written description of the standards and performance required of the materials and components that make up the building. Neil Bentley, deputy director-general of the CBI,


praised the notion of centrally-approved designs as ‘a sure-fire way to make significant savings’ and urged the government to respond swiftly to the recommendations. However, Mike


Entwistle, associate director of Buro Happold, described the Review as ‘something of a let-down, with many questions left unanswered’. ‘What will be standardised and when will guidance be available,’ he asked, adding: ‘There is a risk that much of the good work done over the last 10 years is now to be forgotten.’ English schools need at least £8.5bn of repairs,


‘ There is a risk that much of the good work done will now be forgotten’ Mike Entwistle


according to civil service estimates that were passed to the Financial Times. This does not include repairs that were expected to be remedied by the scrapped £55bn Building Schools for the Future programme. However, the Department for Education saw it’s


budget slashed by £16bn in the coalition cuts, leaving schools facing bills for their own repairs. Half of England’s schools were built between World War Two and the mid-1970s, so are becoming life-expired. Many of the constructions still contain asbestos.


For more information visit: www.education.gov.uk


www.cibsejournal.com


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