Across the world, it’s estimated that around 1.5 billion vehicle tyres are discarded every year. Most of us have probably never really thought about this or what might be happening to such a mountain of tyres once they’ve been cast off. While some may get strung up to a tree to make a swing, such repurposing is really an exception to the rule. In fact, less than one percent of old vehicle tyres are ever reused, meaning huge quantities wind up in stockpiles and landfill.
Now, researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) have come up with something that could not only help to resolve the landfill problem but also provide an economically viable and sustainable alternative to concrete for the construction industry. Read this week’s blog for more about this exciting development.
The term ‘quality’ can mean different things to different people – the secret to achieving high standards; a measure that we use to evaluate ourselves and others; or a complex set of criteria, controls and procedures that our professional work must adhere to.
For a simpler definition, quality is really all about what separates the good from the bad. For construction projects and businesses this couldn’t be more important, so today we’re going to dive into why that is exactly as well as offer a few tips for how to manage and improve quality.
(Mental Health Awareness Week 2022)
After two years of the pandemic, where there has been much less direct contact with friends, family, colleagues or even with essential healthcare professionals, many people are feeling a greater sense of loneliness, isolation and disconnection from our altered society.
Responding to this, the Mental Health Foundation have chosen ‘loneliness’ as the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week which starts today. With construction workers being exposed to many of the same stress points in life as everyone else, we’re using this week’s blog to talk about loneliness in detail and provide a few tips as to what can be done to manage or overcome this problem.
With soaring energy prices, interest rate rises, some huge hikes in the cost of materials and the continuation of labour shortages, many construction industry businesses could be in for some turbulent times this year.
In many cases, the cost pressures are made worse by the fact that contractors are both tied into existing work which was based on estimations set well before the current price rises and are also busy looking at how they can respond to invitations to tenders in ways that make the jobs viable within the current circumstances. In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at what construction businesses (and those who work within them) can do to face this challenge.
In new rules which came into place on Friday 1st April, the government has stated that construction firms in the UK can no longer use red (rebated) diesel for site plant and machinery.
Brought in as part of the search for policies which will help the country hit its net zero target by 2050, this would seem like a good thing. However, looking at the impact this is likely to have on construction companies in the current economic circumstances, many in the industry are calling this ‘the right policy at the wrong time’. Here’s what you need to know…
Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive show that there has been an average of 61,000 non-fatal injuries in construction each year and that during the period 2020-21 there were 39 fatal injuries. Although that might not seem a large number, it’s 4 times the rate for all industries!
Whilst falls from height and slips, trips and falls feature among the most common causes of injury, every year thousands of people are injured due to hazards arising from the equipment they’re using on site. Take a look at this week’s blog for six common dangers to watch out for.
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.
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.
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.