NEWS Two M&E giants quit UK market
Firms refocus on markets with more potential for growth
Major contractors Emcor and Mitie are pulling out of the UK mechanical and electrical market, it has emerged. Mitie said it was leaving because its M&E business was producing ‘margins well below the group average’. The closure of its division will cost the fi rm £22.1m. It said it wanted to reduce its ‘exposure to cyclical markets’. It will, instead, focus on ‘markets where we see potential for growth that meet our margin targets’. Emcor, which employs 3,600 people in the UK and has a turnover of £340m, said it was leaving to focus on
facilities management, but would complete its current projects. It blamed ‘construction market conditions’. The company said its focus would be better placed ‘in areas where it can more fully leverage its knowledge and strength to positively impact customers’ businesses’. These two high-profi le departures follow the loss last year of MJN Colston, Airedale and parts of Rotary. Mitie Group chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith
said: ‘We have reshaped the business to focus on long-term facilities management opportunities, as well as higher margin healthcare provision and energy consulting. We expect outsourcing opportunities will grow, with a trend towards more clients seeking to access integrated services,’ added McGregor-Smith.
In brief
PICKLES ATTACKED OVER TWO– STREAM ENERGY POLICY Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has been accused of implementing European energy policy in an ‘incoherent’ way by British MEPs. They object to his introduction
of separate standards for public and private sector buildings, which they say was never the intention of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Currently, private building
owners are only required to display Energy Performance Certifi cates (EPCs) showing theoretical energy consumption, while the public sector uses Display Energy Certifi cates (DECs) that indicate actual energy use.
McGregor-Smith: ‘Economic environment remains challenging’ MP raps industry’s ‘geeky’ language
A senior fi gure at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has urged the building services industry to change the way it communicates with end users. Laura Sandys, parliamentary private secretary to Energy Minister Greg Barker, said the way energy effi ciency was presented was too ‘geeky and ugly’ so consumers didn’t see it as desirable. However, she said the
government was putting energy effi ciency at the heart of its policy- making and remained committed to making the UK ‘the most energy- effi cient country in Europe’. She told the CIBSE Patrons annual lunch meeting at the House of Lords that new incentives would be forthcoming to motivate commercial property owners currently demotivated by lack of responsibility for their building’s energy bill.
She said there would also need to be a major ‘psychological’ change in the British public to improve energy behaviour if targets were to be reached.
Sandys also defended the decision to charge 6.9% interest on Green Deal loans by saying it compared favourably with mortgage rates and that it represented a good investment prospect for homeowners.
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BANKS DRAGGING FEET OVER MIS-SELLING Banks are being put under pressure to speed up compensating the building services fi rms suffering fi nancially as a result of taking out loan products to guard against interest rates going up. UK regulators in January
ordered banks to review sales of the policies, known as interest rate swaps. They are required by the Financial Conduct Authority to compensate customers not given relevant information as part of the sales process. Daniel Fallows, a director at
Seneca Banking Consultants, which is handling a number of claims for developers and businesses across the property supply chain, said: ‘Action needs to be taken as a priority.’
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16/05/2013 14:10
www.cibsejournal.com June 2013 CIBSE Journal 9
ED ROBINSON/ONEREDEYE
PLUS...
ENERGY EFFICIENCY & RENEWABLES AWARDS
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