The world we live in is constantly changing and the construction industry is certainly no exception to this. While some of the changes construction faces are incredibly challenging (for instance, the materials and labour shortages that have been widely reported in recent years) others can be seen as game-changing opportunities to boost productivity, conquer new markets, improve sustainability and support the wellbeing of the workforce.
As we start another year, still in the grips of the global pandemic along with other serious planetary concerns, we’re taking a look at some of the predicted top trends for construction in 2022.
As a business that has grown substantially, with the support of family, friends and colleagues from across the communities we work in, Sheriff Construction has, in recent years, sought out many ways in which we can give some of that support back.
We’ve now reached the point where we’re now thinking about how we can go that bit further in terms of supporting and promoting social, economic and environmental wellbeing in society – otherwise known as ‘social value’. In our first blog of the year, we’re explaining more about what that means and focusing on one specific question: How can we make a greater positive impact on the communities we’re part of?
Sheriff construction is supporting grassroots sports by sponsoring two local football teams this season – the boys at Crawley Green Hawkes in Luton and one of the girls teams at Leighton United Football Club. Both teams needed new kits this year and, with Sheriff having close family connections to some of the young players, we were happy to help out. Keep reading to find out more…
Like most other businesses in the construction industry, 2021 has brought us several challenges – navigating our way through lockdowns, adapting to changing covid safety site procedures, maintaining motivation across our teams, managing our projects through material shortages and keeping up the momentum for growing our company.
None of this has been easy but, because of the fantastic support Sheriff received from its team and business associates, we’ve overcome those challenges and kept our company on the path of success. Read on to see some of the highlights from 2021, including how Sheriff celebrated this success by bringing back the Christmas party!
Globally, in every town and every city, concrete is used to give our buildings shape and strength. But the huge scale of the concrete industry comes at a cost – it’s estimated that around 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the manufacture and use of cement, which is the main component of concrete.
Now, a team from the University of Tokyo have come up with a new kind of concrete that has the potential to reduce emissions from the construction industry! Read on to find out more about this concrete of the future.
If you’ve ever wanted to get into property development, you might start by reading a book, listening to a podcast, taking some training or heading straight to the bank to check out the finance options. Or you could begin by asking someone who’s done it before and seek to follow their example.
In this week’s blog, we’re showcasing one example of our property development projects, Kingham Way, and sharing our start-to-finish video which really shows how a project like this takes shape over time. Read on for more details and to watch our video.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve all become very used to there being an enhanced focus on cleanliness and sanitisation – at home, while out and about and where we work. While this brought additional procedures and policies into play, even before COVID, most workplaces had some rules around maintaining a clean, tidy and well-organised environment. For construction, this is absolutely crucial in order to maintain site safety, prevent accidents or injuries and help to protect the environment.
Here at Sheriff Construction, we’ve made it clear that good housekeeping on site is everyone’s responsibility and there are key actions/ procedures that our site operatives should be undertaking on a continual basis. As a reminder, this week’s blog features the Sheriff guide to keeping things clean.
When the use of flat-roofing in construction hit its first wave of popularity (roughly from the 1950’s to 1970s), most of the properties that were built during that time offered little or no insulation. This approach, known as ‘cold roof’ construction, is now only rarely used as modern day property developments are far more likely to use ‘warm roofing’ methods which help to ensure rooms in the building are warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, thereby reducing energy usage, bills and environmental impact.
In this week’s blog, we’re putting the spotlight on roofing insulation, its benefits and what’s changed between the older and newer generation systems.
This week, the UN Climate Change Conference known as COP26 opened in Glasgow, bringing representatives from around 200 countries into the Scottish city.
With so much ground to cover, the conference is due to last two weeks, closing on 12th November. One pledge that’s already been made by leaders of more than 100 countries is a commitment to end deforestation by 2030. As the days progress, no doubt we’ll see more headline pledges like this but meanwhile, we thought it might be helpful to summarise what COP26 is all about and what it potentially means for construction. Read on for your five-point guide.
Between July and September this year, the number of vacancies in construction soared to around 43,000 *. That’s double the amount of unfilled jobs the sector saw this time last year and the highest level ever recorded in the 20 years since the data was first collected back in 2001!
While this (alongside other issues like the rising costs of materials) might seem to be cause for concern as we head into the winter, some industry and recruitment experts believe things may be about to change. Find out more, including news of current vacancies at Sheriff, in this week’s blog.