News
4 | JULY 2018
News
Read online at www. proinstaller. co. uk
VEKA NAMES BAERLOCHER‘ SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR’
Baerlocher UK Ltd has secured the top accolade in VEKA Group’ s third annual Supplier of the Year awards.
The company came top in the‘ Raw Materials’ category, as well as being overall winner.
VEKA Group is committed to quality in every aspect of product and service, and the team are proud to celebrate suppliers that go above and beyond in providing
Alarm bells over construction output fall
The Beast from the East, rising costs and Brexit are to blame for the sharp drop in construction output, the Federation of Master Builders( FMB) has said in response to the April 2018 construction output figures published by the Office for National Statistics( ONS). Commenting on the construction output figures for April 2018, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the the materials needed for VEKA and Halo’ s industry-leading PVC-U profile systems.
Other category winners this year included; Chick Plastics for‘ Ancillaries’ for the second year
FMB, said:“ The UK construction sector declined by 3.4 % in the three months from February to April compared with the previous three months. This is the biggest fall since the latter stages of the recession in August 2012. The Beast from the East has certainly played its part as it forced many construction sites to close in March. Indeed, builders were reporting that it was too cold to lay bricks.” running, and BOAL UK Ltd for‘ Technical In-House Design’.
‘ Supplier of the Year’ Baerlocher specialises in manufacturing PVC additive mixtures using Calcium-based PVC stabiliser technology. The company supplies VEKA Group with a specially formulated stabiliser / lubricant, which ensures that VEKA and Halo profiles benefit from excellent processing, heat stability, weatherability, impact resistance, colour, colour fastness and plate-out properties. It also helps ensure the UV resistance that high quality VEKA Group products are known for.
www. vekauk. com
Berry continued:“ Alongside the cold snap, the drop-in construction output can also be attributed to rising costs for construction firms large and small. While wages are continuing to rise because of the acute skills crisis in our sector, firms are also feeling the pinch thanks to increased material prices.”
www. fmb. org. uk
Farnham roofer crowned nation’ s‘ Local Hero’ in the 2018 UK Roofing Awards
Charity-minded Surrey roofer Lee Moran has been crowned the nation’ s top‘ Local Hero’ in the NFRC( National Federation of Roofing Contractors) 2018 UK Roofing Awards, sponsored by SIG Roofing.
Lee, whose family-run business Moran Roofing Specialists is based in Farnham, was recognised for his years of fundraising for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, which cares for terminally ill people, as well as other good causes.
He was presented with his award on Friday( 11th May) at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel by SIG Roofing Managing Director Andrew Wakelin.
The NFRC UK Roofing Awards, compered this year by BBC presenter Dan Walker, recognise the outstanding workmanship and skill of roofing professionals nationwide. The‘ Local Hero’ Award was a new category introduced for 2018 to celebrate the fantastic work many roofers do in their local communities.
Lee has been raising funds since 2012. He was inspired by his stepfather, who also raises money for charity, along with the deaths at a young age of a friend and an uncle who each attended the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice for their end of life treatment. His father Darryl also survived cancer a few years ago that spurred him on even more.
A Facebook page he set up,‘ Farnham Rants’, has so far raised more than £ 10,000 for the hospice.
He has also raised money for the Shooting Star Chase children’ s hospice and the British Heart Foundation.
CARILLION: GOVERNMENT RISK ASSESSMENTS PUBLISHED
The collapse of Carillion raised significant concerns about the Government’ s relationship with and management of its major suppliers, and the potential impact on the delivery of important public services.
On 24 January 2018, the House of Commons agreed that the Government’ s risks assessments of its Strategic Suppliers should be released to the Public Accounts Committee.
The assessments are subjective documents intended as confidential advice. However, the Committee does not consider that the Carillion papers contain live and material commercial risks as the company is no longer trading.
Each Strategic Supplier is assessed on a Red-Amber- Green( RAG) scale. Suppliers can also be designated a Black‘ High Risk’ status.
The Carillion assessments show that:
• Although Carillion had been rated Amber owing to performance against contracts with the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice, it was not until after Carillion issued a profit warning in July 2017 that Government downgraded Carillion to Red. It appears the Government was not aware of Carillion’ s financial distress until this point.
• In November 2017, officials recommended a provisional Black rating for Carillion. However, following representations from the company, the Cabinet Office did not confirm the designation. Carillion collapsed less than two months later.
The risk assessments relating to other Strategic Suppliers raise concerns about their performance against contracts, and about the relationship between Strategic Suppliers and Government.
The Committee has at present chosen not to publish these papers, but it reserves the right to do so. It now intends to take evidence to explore the issues and pursue concerns about Suppliers raised in the papers and previous Committee reports.