lmost one in three (28 per cent) engineering services firms say turnover decreased during the first quarter of 2018, according to new findings from the quarterly sector-wide Building Engineering Business Survey, sponsored by Scolmore. The survey covers a membership turnover of around £12 billion.
BSEE NEWS A
This is the highest reported percentage fall in turnover since Q1 2016, when 33 per cent of respondents reported a fall in turnover since the previous quarter.
However, the overall outlook for Q2 2018 is positive, as 86 per cent of businesses said
Adversing: 01622 699116 Editorial: 01354 461430 Ongoing issues and oneo events slow engineering services growth
they expect turnover to increase or remain the same, compared to Q1 2018. Ongoing issues, such as poor payment practices (60 per cent of commercial work was paid later than 30 days after completion), and one-off events, such as unusually adverse weather conditions (34 per cent said this had impacted productivity), likely served as contributing factors to some of the slowdown in growth. ECA Deputy Director of Business Policy and Practice, Rob Driscoll said: “So far, 2018 has been characterised by continual uncertainty as we awaited the output from the Grenfell enquiry, continued in the
Full steam ahead with help from Riello R
iello has donated an RL34 oil burner to the Internal Fire Museum in Cardigan for use in the first of its steam halls. The burner is fitted to a Beel VFB boiler donated by Cochran UK.
The Internal Fire Museum was founded in 2003 to cover the history and use of large engines in the 20th Century. Engines are run every day, with at least six engines running all day, and exhibits include the oldest daily working diesel engine in the world.
The first of the steam halls, where the Riello burner is in use, was opened in April 2018. The Museum’s Paul Evans commented: “The steam hall has seen a fantastic show of help from companies such as Riello and Cochran. Without the generous assistance of these companies the museum would not have been able to complete the project on schedule.”
The RL Series of two-stage burners covers a firing range from 154kW to 2700kW, and has been designed for use in low or medium temperature hot water boilers, hot air or steam boilers, or diathermic oil boilers.
shadow of Brexit, saw Carillion fall and powered through a prolonged period of extreme weather.
“It was therefore no surprise that the first quarter of 2018 showed some decline, but despite higher operational costs and ongoing issues surrounding protracted payment, our sector has historically proven its resilience and has a positive outlook as demand is expected to increase during the second quarter.”
BESA Head of Legal, Debbie Petford said: “There were some significant blows to the industry this year, with Carillion, the ‘Beast from the East’ and the impact of Grenfell
Tower still being felt; but the industry will continue to work hard, grow and deliver.” SNIPEF Chief Executive Fiona Hodgson said: “The adverse weather conditions produced additional work for some of our members with an increase in call-outs for boiler breakdowns and servicing but others faced a lack of work as a result of site closures. In addition to the continued rise in cost of materials, our members are now facing increased labour costs associated with a shortage of suitably qualified operatives.”
The survey was conducted by trade bodies BESA, ECA, SELECT and SNIPEF.
Proposed RHI changes generate posive response from REHAU
R
EHAU – the supplier of district heating and other
renewable heat solutions – has welcomed
proposed changes to the Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI)
regulations, which will see higher, guaranteed tariffs for domestic and commercial projects opting to use renewable heat solutions.
The tariff changes were laid before Parliament in
ZTP wins Innovate UK funding to develop new energy risk management product
n a collaboration with the University of Kent’s Kent Business School and School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS), strategic energy management consultancy ZTP has secured funding from Innovate UK and the Economic Research and Social Council (ESRC), to develop its first collaborative Knowledge Transfer Partnership project.
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The two-year project will design and build risk management algorithms that will enable UK and multi-national businesses to mitigate risk associated with open energy market positions. The product will engage stakeholders from multiple countries and aggregate risk reporting to a single reporting facility.
Alex Hill, Managing Director of ZTP, said: “With energy costs rising due to both fundamentals in the wholesale market and increased non commodity costs, there is a real need for a risk management solution which will enable multi-national businesses to protect themselves from the unpredictably of the open energy market, and to maximise savings on energy use and costs.”
February as part of a number of proposed amends to the domestic and non-domestic RHI schemes, which ministers hope will boost the uptake of renewable heat installations in the UK. The revised RHI rules came into force on May 22.
The changes include an uplift to the tariffs for biogas and biomethane, changes to the eligible uses of renewably generated heat, plus new rules on shared ground loops and mandatory electricity metering. However, the key change is the introduction of tariff guarantees. Under the proposed amends, project managers will be able to apply to Ofgem at the planning stage to secure a
guaranteed tariff, which will strengthen the business case for the use of a renewable heat source from the outset and provide long-term security for investors. REHAU hopes the
suggested changes to the regulations will give specifiers the confidence to go ahead with projects that had been put on the backburner because of previous uncertainty about RHI tariffs. Steve Richmond, Head of Marketing and Technical for the Business Solutions Division at REHAU, said: “We welcome the proposed changes to the RHI schemes and hope they will become the catalyst for an uplift in renewable heat installations in the UK.
uRHI changes could spark an upli in renewable heang projects.
“We have spoken to customers who think the tariff changes will make their biogas – or anaerobic digestion – plant projects viable, which is great news for them and for the environment.”
For more information about the RHI schemes, visit:
www.ofgem.gov.uk
4 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2018
VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.bsee.co.uk
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