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August industry news update
22nd Aug 2008
Catch up on on this month's industry news
Water Active August 2008
Risk of flooding ‘continues to escalate’
Report urges Government to show leadership
Sir Michael Pitt has called for urgent and fundamental changes in the way the country is adapting to the increased risk of flooding and called on the Government to set out publicly how it will make rapid progress, and be held to account, on improving the country’s flood reliance.
The Government should:
Establish a Cabinet Committee dedicated to tackling the risk of flooding
Publishing monthly summaries of progress during the recovery phase of major flooding events
Ensure proper rescoring of flood resilience measures, with above inflation increases every spending review
Establish a National Resilience Forum to facilitate national level planning for flooding and other emergencies
Have pre-planned, rather that ad hoc, financial arrangements in place for responding to the financial burden of exceptional emergencies
Publish an action plan to implement the recommendations in this review, with regular progress updates
Partnership calls for wetlands investment
Large areas of wetland need to be created, protected and restored across England in the next 50 years if the country is to meet challenges of the future.
The call comes from the Wetland Vision Partnership, an alliance of conservationists and government agencies, including the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, the Environment Agency and English Heritage.
The partnership has produced a series of maps showing the loss and fragmentation of the country’s wetlands and where opportunities exist to create new ones.
Building 15 August 2008
Olympic media centre
Up to £90m over budget as sources put funding gap at Lend Lease’s £1bn Olympic village project at £400m
The media centre is the latest venue to hit budget problems.
Contractor Carillion, regeneration developer Igloo and the ODA were involved in “intensive technical work to value-engineer the cost of the building.”
The Olympic village has already had its number of homes cut from 4,200 to about 3,000 to keep costs within budget.
Construction employment prospects hit 16-year low
Firms opt against taking on new staff, as CPA survey predicts industry recession will last two years
Fewer firms are expecting to take on staff than at any point in the past 16 years.
The figures come as a survey published by the Construction Confederation and the Construction Products Association (CPA) prediction that construction will remain in recession for the next 2 years as economic slowdown is exacerbated by the rising process of energy and raw materials.
The survey also warns that the tightening of government finances may constrain spending in social housing, education and health.
Retail Week – 15 August 2008
Recruitment dives as retailers hunker down
Thousands of retail jobs have disappeared in the past year as store groups have initiated job freezes and other measures to reduce levels without axing staff
The survey by Monster found that advertising for jobs online in the retail sector was down the most by 13.5% compared to July last year
Jobs most commonly being cut are customer service, admin and buying assistant roles
DIY ensures poor summer
DIY is suffering its worst summer since 2004 as cash-strapped consumers put off home improvement projects
The sector has been in decline since the flooding last year
Hammerson suffers £421 million loss
Despite next month’s opening of Cabot Circus in Bristol, profits have slumped in the past 6 months – jointly built with Land Securities
The centre is 83% let
Bitter Blow for Oxford as Westgate scheme delayed
Liberty International is postponing its £300 million Westgate development, due to be anchored by John Lewis
CACI predicted that the scheme would have lifted the town to 30th in the UK shopping rankings
CSC, who is managing the project said they would reconsider once market conditions were more favourable
Retail and Leisure International – July / August 2008
UK to witness centre boom
Over 1.25 million sq metres of shopping centre space is due to open in the UK between now and the end of 2009. The figure is one of the highest since 1965 and is evidence of longer team confidence in the retail market
Romania’s first upmarket centre, ice plaza is unveiled
A new concept in shopping for Romania has been unveiled outside of the Capital Bucharest. Ice Plaza, a 65,000sq m development in its first phrase will be built in Arad, one of Romania’s major regional cities based in the northeast.
Executives see benefits in adopting sustainable practices
A survey revealed that 64% of executives in Asia Pacific agreed that the benefits of investing in sustainability outweighed the costs. 41% of companies that rated their sustainability performance highly over the last three years saw their share prices rise over 31%.
Trailblazing China
JLL has built a strong business of five distinct segments: retail consultancy, project leasing, shopping centre management an investment and retailer representation.
It is growing its business throughout Greater China by purposefully selecting the very best high profile projects in the marketplace.
In China, retail is about understanding how established brands are perceived by Chinese consumers and playing to that strength or adopting.
There are two key opportunities in China:
Acquire or enter into a joint venture with local retailers and to modernize them without losing their unique appeal to Chinese shopper
Acquire poorly developed or managed shopping centres and turn them around through higher quality of refurbishment.
Construction News August 2008
Water firms want a third more cash to fund major supply projects
Water companies to submit proposals to Ofwat this week for extra money to spend on upgrading infrastructure
Pamela Taylor Chief executive of Water UK said was because of the demand for new houses and recent events such as drought and floods
Recession fear prompts Wates to plan Middle Eastern expedition
Wates are looking to break into Middle East Market because of problems with UK economy
To work in UAE will have to join joint venture with local firm
In April ISG became latest UK firm to join joint venture with Dubai-based company to work in UAE and across Golf region
Wet News August 2008
Anaerobic plans meet with Water UK approval
Water UK approves Defra’s plans to make greater use of anaerobic digestion
Benefits include renewable energy, less landfill and methane and provision of fertiliser
Defra will be inviting bids for the projects in the Autumn
