The cost of living crisis is something that’s repeatedly filling our news streams with reports of how this is affecting people, businesses and whole industries.
Now, it has been revealed that, during 2022, high levels of inflation on building materials has made its mark on the UK’s construction sector – taking the total cost of construction output for the year to a record level of £204bn.
Read on for more on this story as well as what the experts are predicting for 2023…
Having a well-functioning team is one of the most important factors which the success of any construction project relies on.
It’s how people from all kinds of backgrounds, with different skills and experience, find a way to work and cooperate with each other to reach a common goal; and how they maintain high levels of productivity, alongside excellent quality control and safety practices.
However, achieving and maintaining great teamwork does require some effort so, in today’s blog, we’ve got five tips for you.
Sheriff Construction is delighted to announce that we’ve just secured our biggest brickwork contract to date. Valued at just over £6.1m, the deal will see our team supporting a major UK housebuilder at 5-acre regeneration site in Woolwich, London.
This is a significant win for Sheriff Construction as it cements the strong relationship we’ve built up with this client (who we’re not naming right now due to our protocols around confidentiality) and will provide our team with at least 2-years’ worth of secure work. The contract is also among the first to be secured since our company restructured, meaning the job will be managed through our sister company, Sheriff Brickworks. Read this week’s blog to find out more.
A new technology, using flying robots (drones) that work cooperatively like bees, might soon be something we see in use on a construction site.
Imitating some of the methods used by nature’s airborne builders, the technology (which has so far been tested in a lab) could ultimately be used for manufacturing and building – particularly in difficult-to-access or dangerous locations such as tall buildings or help with post-disaster relief works.
Take a look at this week’s blog to find out more…
A new England-wide employment scheme is looking to encourage more women to join the residential construction workforce and especially to go into site management roles.
Launched by the Home Builders Federation and the not-for-profit organisation, Women Into Construction, the scheme is offering women work placement opportunities on sites with access to support with childcare and training costs. The hope is that this will have the duel effect of reducing skills shortages in the industry and rebranding construction as a rewarding and practical career opportunity for people from all walks of life. Read on for more details…
Known as ‘Twelfth Night’, today officially marks the end of the festive period. For most people, this means that the lights and decorations will have been packed away, the chocolate box will be reduced to a few strawberry creams and normal working/ school days will have resumed.
While the return to a normal routine can feel like a natural comfort zone, for many people the prospect of the cold, dark winter months ahead can bring a dose of the blues and a lack of motivation that affects their personal and working lives.
If that’s you right now, here are a few tips for how you can stay motivated at work this January.
Since the clocks went back in October, the hours of daylight have been getting shorter and that means many construction workers (including those working in office support roles) will be spending at least part of their working day and commuting time in the dark.
This can result in additional safety and security issues, including the risk of accidents occurring on site or while travelling to work as well as more malignant factors such as premises and/or workers being targeted by thieves taking advantage of the cover of darkness.
Here, we look at six simple ways you can stay safer this winter.
With all the political news focusing on the UK budget last week, you might have missed some amendments being made to the government’s Levelling Up Bill which will have implications for the construction industry.
Alongside measures that are supposed to help regenerate communities, speed up the delivery of new homes, improve wastewater facilities and give local people a greater say in how their neighbourhood looks, the government have presented what they’re calling BIDEN principles which should be applied to all new developments.
Intrigued as to what this means, we thought we’d find out more and use this week’s blog to explain.
This week, the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh saw world leaders, business leaders, climate activists, civil society representatives and others arrive for COP27 – the largest annual gathering on climate action. Running for two weeks (until 18th November), this United Nations conference is seeking renewed solidarity between countries to urgently tackle the global climate emergency and deliver on the Paris Agreement for people and the planet.
Approaches that can be made by energy intensive sectors such as oil, gas, steel and cement will be discussed on the conference’s ‘Decarbonisation Day’ (11th November) so we’ll be keeping a watch on what’s said. Meanwhile, we thought we’d take this as our theme for this week’s blog and look at five ways construction companies can lower their carbon footprint.
Lifting and moving heavy objects are part of normal working life on construction sites but, when managed badly, these everyday tasks can lead to damaging musculoskeletal disorders that leave workers struggling to stand, walk or sit down. For some, the injuries result in them having no option but to stop working in the industry altogether.
Because the health of workers can be affected to such a serious degree, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive will be carrying out 1000 site inspections in October and November, particularly checking how workers are moving heavy or bulky materials. Read on for more details.