UK Chartered Surveyors Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield and West Midlands
Professional Organizations News
Fraudster who pocketed more than £250,000 jailed following joint investigation – Cheshire ConstabularyA fraudster who pocketed more than £250,000 for work that was never needed or poorly completed has been jailed following a joint investigation from Cheshire Police and Cheshire West and Chester Council Trading Standards.
www.cheshire.police.uk
Barnsley Bate have been contacted by various different Trading Standards Offices throughout the midlands area, to give thanks for the expert witness statements with regards to Rogue and Cowboy builders.
Barnsley Bate UK Building Surveyor have also assisted in uncovering fraud and conspiracy case, where Sandwell Council which fund Annie Lennard Primary had been the victim. Click here for more information relating to this via an article in the Express and Star.
Other Cases include
Builder whose ‘dire’ work left family with sloping roof, live electrics and an extension two feet short is jailed. He left so much damage the family needs more than £30,000 to fix it. Click here for more information relating to this via an article in the Leicester Mercury.
We are pleased to have assisted Trading Standards as expert witnesses in regard to these cases.
Congratulations to Mike Scott
BREEAM Associate Online Examination completed the course
BREEAM is the acronym used to describe an environmental assessment method for new construction and refurbishment works. The Building Research Establishment (“BRE”) administers the scheme that has provided a rating system for projects in the UK and worldwide since 1990.
The objectives of BREEAM are to set the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and the rating is a measure of a building’s environmental performance recognised and endorsed by central government, professional institutions and national client bodies.
A BREEAM assessment establishes benchmarks applicable to one of five chosen ratings and evaluates a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology. They include aspects related to water use, the internal environment (health and well-being), pollution, transport, materials, waste and management processes. Each category has a defined series of benchmarks that are higher than background national regulation and are sustained during the construction works by a comprehensive and robust set of technical standards with rigorous quality assurance and certification.
The BREEAM Associate qualification provides construction project professionals with the practice skills and knowledge to advice Clients and other Stakeholders who are contemplating the adoption of BREEAM at project inception.
Following a major £1bn redevelopment, Birmingham’s New Street Station has been crowned UK Project of the Year at the 2016 RICS Awards Grand Final.
The Birmingham Gateway & Grand Central project – delivered by a team including Mace, Network Rail, Birmingham City Council and Turner & Townsend – was described by RICS judging panel as the most significant investment in regenerating Birmingham in a generation.
More information on this page can be found on the Official RICS website here.
The first section of Birmingham New Street station opened in April 2013, the new station has A new concourse three and a half times larger than the 1960s concourse, Refurbished platforms reached by new escalators and lifts, and a Refurbished Pallasades shopping centre and John Lewis store.
The UK is facing a “critical rental shortage” which requires a building programme to focus on providing for tenants, a surveyors’ body has said.
At least 1.8 million more households will be looking to rent rather than buy a home by 2025, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) claims.
It has called on the government to offer tax breaks to encourage building and investment in the sector.
The Conservative Party has indicated its focus remains on home ownership.
More details can be found on this BBC website
“However, new RICS figures show that 86% of landlords have no plans to increase their rental portfolio this year – with that trend set to remain for the next five years. Additionally, a net balance of 58 per cent of RICS estate agents have reported a drop in buy-to-let sales since May.”
Some media outlets noted that the UK market showed some signs of stability since Brexit, quoting RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn as saying that the real estate market seeks balance between a mixed economy and actions of the Bank of England, which has already started decreasing the cost of home loans.
More info on this page here
The renowned Grand Central & Birmingham Gateway success continues as it scoops the top prize at this year’s RICS Awards, West Midlands. The multi-million pound regeneration outshone in three categories, respectively, before scooping the top accolade of Project of the Year.
The annual event has been running for over ten years and demonstrates the best built environment from the land, property and construction sectors. This year the event, held at Aston Villa Football Ground in Birmingham, played host to over 250 attendees to celebrate some of the region’s best initiatives.
The winners of the eight categories are as follows:
