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AUGUST 2016 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
ARCHITECT EMPLOYS
NEW ASSOCIATES
North east business Lippe Architects + Planners has
appointed two further associates following a period
of expansion and a rebranding exercise.
In response to continued
demand from clients, Lippe
Architects + Planners, with
offices in Aberdeen and
Inverurie, appointed Debbie Anderson, an Associate
Member of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in
Scotland along with Lesley
Tierney who is a Chartered
Member of the Royal Town
Planning Institute.
Technical Director Stuart
Naysmith commented: “We are
delighted to make these appointments at this time of consistent
growth. Debbie has been with our
practice for ten years and has acquired a wealth of experience and
local knowledge. Lesley’s expertise
in the planning process brings an
increased ability to guide our clients through the current complex
system.”
Lesley, who joined the company
at the end of 2014 added: “The
addition of specialist planning
knowledge supports our primary
Action needed to
stave off recession
A significant programme of
capital investment by the
government is now needed
to tackle the threat of a
construction recession, according to the Federation of
Master Builders (FMB).
Commenting on the latest statistics from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS), Brian Berry, Chief
Executive of the FMB, said: “The
construction industry has grown
steadily over the past few years
and for the sector to experience
two consecutive quarters of negative growth demonstrates the
powerful effect uncertainty and a
lack of confidence can have.
“The government must now take
bold action and do everything
‘we can achieve the
best outcomes for
their requirements’
aims of delivering successful pla nning permissions for clients and
we can achieve the best outcomes
for their requirements.”
in its power to prevent these
preliminary estimates by the ONS
from becoming more concrete
or sustained. A firm commitment
to invest public funds in capital
projects such as house building
and infrastructure would go a
long way to assuaging fears that
demand will dive in the wake
of Brexit. The country’s housing
crisis and the enormous skills
shortage our sector faces owe
much to how the construction
industry suffered during the last
economic downturn – it’s pivotal
that we learn from those mistakes
and find a way to keep Britain
building.”
www.fmb.org.uk
Debbie, who has a particular
interest in historical architecture,
has worked with some key clients, including the Tivoli Theatre
Company and the Townscape
Heritage Initiative, gaining extensive knowledge of conservation
in architecture and is currently
working towards accreditation in
building conservation from the
RIAS.
Buy-in opens door to growth Cutting the cost of regulation
One of Yorkshire’s long-established, privately owned
PVCu fabrication businesses has changed hands in a
management buy-in, with
the transaction providing an
exit for the original founder
shareholders.
The £22m turnover group, based
in Barnsley and operating under the brands Sash UK (‘Sash’)
and Fitrite Fencing & Decking
(‘Fitrite’), has been acquired by
John Ross and Nick Lilburn, both
of whom were part of the former management team at Bradford-based SafeStyle Group. The
Yorkshire offices of corporate
finance adviser, Dow Schofield
Watts, and legal firm, Squire Patton Boggs, advised them on the
purchase and subsequent fundraising, with the transaction backed
by London-based private debt
fund, Praesidian Capital Europe.
Having recently celebrated
50 years since its foundation,
Sash UK is one of the north’s
leading fabricators of windows
and doors, and Fitrite, set up in
2010, is one of the UK’s market
leaders in the supply of PVCu
decking. The group employs
approximately 180 staff at its
head office and main production
facility in South Yorkshire.
John Ross, managing director,
commented: “It’s great to be
back operating in the industry
again and Sash, as a long-established and successful fabricator
in Yorkshire, provides Nick and
myself with the ideal platform
for doing so. Our plan for Sash
is simple - to continue where
the previous owners left off by
focusing firmly on the trade,
commercial and housebuilding
revenue streams of the business.”
Limitations in the government’s approach to reducing
the cost of regulation mean
the scope of the Business Impact Target is open to manipulation, and may not reflect
a realistic business-centred
view of regulatory costs, according to a report from the
National Audit Office (NAO).
The Business Impact Target aims
to reduce the cost of regulation
by £10 billion between 2015 and
2020. The NAO’s 2014 survey of
business perceptions, published
jointly with the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills,
found that 51% of businesses saw
the level of regulation in the UK as
an obstacle to business success.
The report found that the government does not know how much
cost businesses incur as a result of
its existing regulations. This means
that it cannot know how ambitious
its target for reducing regulatory
costs is. So far this Parliament, the
£8.3 billion of expected regulatory
costs imposed on business that
are not included in the scope of
the Target greatly exceed the £0.9
billion savings that are included.
According to the NAO, the Target
does not and is not designed to
reflect all administrative and regulatory costs to business, who also
bear costs including tax administration, self-regulation and complying with EU regulation. There
is no overall picture of how these
costs affect businesses, making
it difficult for the government to
prioritise its efforts.
In addition, although HM
Treasury guidance says that
departments should monitor the
ongoing impact of their regulatory decisions, they rarely do
so. This means that departments
could miss opportunities to adapt
policies in ways that would help
businesses.
According to the NAO, the
government does not ensure the
wider social costs and benefits of
regulation are adequately considered. Although businesses are
concerned about the cost of regulation, some stakeholders have
raised concerns that deregulation
could have harmful wider effects.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, commented: “The
government will not be in a position to demonstrate that its work to
reduce regulatory costs is providing value for money, until more
robust evidence is available. The
current system is set up to ensure
that government can hit its target.
But it misses the point by not truly
reducing burdens on businesses
where they feel them most.”
Source: National Audit Office