"Finding Low Carbon Solutions" Spaces still available

Have you registered for the Free to Attend, East Midlands Construction Conference?  Taking place alongside EXPO2007 entitled "Finding Low Carbon Solutions" the conference is being organised to provide specific guidance on Government Policy on what clients, both public and private sector, should be doing to address the procurement of sustainable buildings, and how the sustainable agenda is being put into practice in the Region.

Register now to take part, to hear from a range of influential speakers, to network and to understand some of the current business solutions being showcased at the event.

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Environmental Training for the Construction Industry

Places are still available on the IEMA Foundation Certificate Course

The Foundation Certificate Course - certified by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) - is presented by ISYS International to give delegates an introduction to environmental concepts and their relevance to business and construction.

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2012 Construction Commitments – A Driver for Change

Venue: PERA – Melton Mowbray

Date: 7 November 2007
Whether you are a client, contractor, consultant or supplier, whether large or small, the impact of the Common Minimum Standards for public sector procurement and the 2007 CDM Regulations for health and safety will change the way you do business. And the 2012 Construction Commitments, not just designed for Olympic projects but for all projects, have the potential to drive the sector to new levels of performance over the next five years.

At this one-day conference you will have the opportunity to learn more about the Common Minimum Standards and the 2007 CDM Regulations. You will also find out more about practical business support services available to you, as well as interact with representatives from Constructing Excellence, the Health and Safety Executive, the Office of Government Commerce, and your Regional Development Agency. 

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Midlands Consortium to Host £1 Billion Energy Institute

 Representatives from the Midlands Consortium are absolutely delighted by the announcement that the group has been chosen to host a new £1 billion national institute to develop cleaner energies.

The Midlands Consortium is comprised of the universities of Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham – three world-class partners, all with extensive and complementary energy related research activities.  Generous financial support has been provided, in a unique cross-border arrangement, by both East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and Advantage West Midlands.

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Housing Corporation Launches Gold Awards 2008

Entries to the Housing Corporation's Gold Award for Excellence 2008 are now being accepted as the exciting competition opens for its latest round.

Now in its third year, the popular competition for housing associations is back with three new themes: Building Cohesive Communities; Tackling Worklessness and Delivering Joined-up Development.

Each winning association will receive a cash boost of £50,000 to help fund their involvement in a nine-month programme of knowledge sharing.

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BASF to Build Energy Efficient Affordable Home

BASF, a supplier of raw materials to the construction industry, is working with customers and partners to build an energy efficient and affordable house as part of the Creative Energy Homes Project at the University of Nottingham's School of the Built Environment.

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European Commission – Sustainable Energy Europe Awards Competition

Does your project deserve better recognition at European Level?

Join the Sustainable Energy Partnership before 19th October 2007 and be automatically entered into the prestigious 2008 Sustainable Energy Awards Competition.

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ice Design Challenge

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), ConstructionSkills and the Construction Industry Council (CIC) have teamed up to offer Key Stage 3 students from schools across the East Midlands the chance to discover the challenges involved in planning and design.  The challenge will build on the excitement of the UK hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic games in 2012 and ask students to design a sports stadium within their grounds.  The final will be held in National Science and Engineering Week (7-16 March 2008 and finalists will receive prizes and certificates.

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O’Rourke in Off-Site Drive

Laing O’Rourke is on the hunt for more locations to build manufacturing plants as it plots a strategy to carry out three-quarters of its work using off-site methods.

The search is being spearheaded by new chief operating officer Tony Douglas as part of a plan to hit a 70 per cent target for using pre-assembly on its sites.  At the moment just 10 per cent of its work is manufactured off-site but the former boss of Heathrow Airport has vowed to change that. The firm is planning to open its first manufacturing plant at a former colliery in Steetley, Derbyshire, next year.

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Respect for People

Rethinking Construction identified 'Respect for People'(RfP) as one of the five drivers for change. Work covering Respect for People seeks to demonstrate to industry and its clients that showing respect to their workforce, as well as winning respect from them and from the general public, is fundamental to business success. RfP is also an approach which transcends any limited-scale programme of activity.
As a result of surveying over 160 organisations, the 2007 RfP Report is able to confirm the business case for Respect for People.

The report includes 9 detailed case studies, through the eyes of different members of the supply chain, where the Respect for People implementation story is told. These show how and why organisations have used Respect for People to reach their business objectives. They take a frank look at the issues of implementing the tools, identifying how these were successfully overcome.

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Chairman says Thank You to Constructing Excellence Team

The last year has been one of significant change as we finished the transition from DTI grant funding to a thriving membership-governed organisation which also manages government programmes and commercial commissions, writes Constructing Excellence Chairman Bob White, and Chief Executive, Don Ward as the CE 2007 Annual Report is published.

Adding: “This report highlights some of our achievements in the last year, and shows us to be in a strong position thanks to the quality of engagement from our members, our customers, our partners and our staff. To all of those who continue to support us in improving industry performance and delivering a demonstrably better built environment, we say THANK YOU!”
Read a copy of the full report:

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Launch Meeting a Huge Success

In excess of 100 local businesses from the construction industry gathered at the launch of the Derby Constructing Excellence Club on Tuesday, 25th September, sponsored by HSBC.
The launch, which was free of charge, featured guest speakers who were able to offer their advice on how the Derby Constructing Excellence club can help businesses grow with details about some of the developments already happening in the region.

Constructing Excellence is the only UK industry-wide body operating in the built environment and with so much physical regeneration happening in and around Derby’s city centre, this club will offer large and small organisations the opportunity to find out more about real issues such as ‘Best Practice’ and ‘Sustainability’ at events throughout the year.

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Review of East Midlands Regional Housing Strategy

The East Midlands Regional Assembly's Regional Housing Group is currently a carrying out a review of the East Midlands Regional Housing Strategy. 

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