There are just under two months to go until we close for submissions for this year’s Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber (CEYH) awards and whilst we know that the deadline may seem a long way off, we also know how quickly these dates can creep up on you. So here is our (gentle) reminder to start those entries for our “Swinging from the Rooftops” themed awards presentation on 1st July.

The 2016 CEYH awards, organised by the Centre for Knowledge Exchange at Leeds Beckett University, celebrate and reward the most innovative organisations, developments & initiatives in the built environment over the past 12 months.

The awards are fully inclusive, open to any organisations, companies and project teams involved in delivering “excellence” in construction, building and civil engineering across 13 different categories, each one representing the core themes underpinning the Constructing Excellence movement & improvement agenda.

As Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Dean & Pro Vice Chancellor at Leeds Beckett University, explained: “Innovation in construction is essential to the industry’s continued success and as a University, we provide a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses as well as continuous development opportunities and consultancy to businesses to effectively equip the workforce.

“Once again we are excited about celebrating the breadth and range of talent across our region through these awards and look forward to welcoming entries across all of the categories.”

The winners of each category will be revealed at a gala dinner held at New Dock Hall in Leeds on 1st July. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Swinging from the rooftops’ where following the awards presentations, guests will be entertained by cocktails, dancing and live music from our four piece swing band.  The winners then go on to compete at the National Construction Excellence Awards held in London in the autumn. Last year the Yorkshire and Humber region won accolades in both Value (Interserve) and BIM project of the Year (Carillion Morgan Sindall Joint Venture) and with the fantastic projects going on the region at the moment, this can be bettered in 2016!

Organised by a dynamic and forward thinking team, the CEYH awards have grown to be the showpiece event of the regional construction awards calendar with over 350 professionals, representing a broad cross section of the construction industry, coming together to celebrate the projects, companies and organisations that are truly pushing our sector forward.

Pete Watson, CEO of the headline sponsors Atlas Cloud (pictured), added: “We are delighted to sponsor the Construction Excellence Yorkshire and Humber Awards 2016 for the 2nd consecutive year. We have seen a huge shift in technology enhancement in the regions with mobile teams working on some of the largest infrastructure projects in the country such as HS2, MAG, Crossrail 2 and Hinkley Point. This region has superb talent and is working on some of the best projects and we really need to be shouting about it.”

The closing date for submissions for this year’s awards is Friday 29 April.  For full details about the awards categories please visit http://ckegroup.org/cexcellenceyh/ceyh-awards-2016 .

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the CKE team on 0113 812 1902 or via e.a.schofield@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

We look forward to reading your entries!

CDM – A Client’s Perspective

Wednesday 24th February 2016, 08.00 to 09.30

The CDM Regulations 2015 have now been in place since April last year and shape the way our industry health, safety and wellbeing should be managed. At our breakfast seminar in February we will be looking at the key changes from CDM 2007 from the client’s viewpoint and provide advice and guidance on how to be a good CDM Dutyholder.

Our first speaker is Martin Cook, Director at Turner & Townsend. Martin has been a health and safety professional for over 25 years and operates at a senior level where he has acquired an extensive experience and understanding of health, safety, wellbeing and behavioural safety. Martin will be using his expertise to provide an insight into how CDM can be implemented to bring benefit and overall performance improvement to your business.

Our second speaker is Katie Milner, Associate; Construction, Engineering and Environment Group at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. Katie will be reviewing the regs from a legal perspective and facilitating a discussion on considerations for clients when appointing principal designers under CDM 2015, including an overview of the sentencing guidelines that will apply in the event of non-compliance with the regulations.

To get involved join us at Addleshaw Goddard LLP, Sovereign House, Sovereign Street, Leeds, LS1 1HQ

(If you are using a satellite navigation, please use the following postcode: LS1 4BJ)

£35 or free to Yorkshire and Humber Constructing Excellence Club members

CLICK HERE TO BOOK

It’s that time of year again! We are pleased to announce that we are now taking entries for the 2016 Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber Awards

Held every year in July our awards are a celebration of the very best the regional construction industry has to offer, recognising and rewarding the pioneering individuals, projects and organisations that are truly moving our sector forward.

Fully inclusive, entries are welcome from any organisations, companies &/or project teams involved in delivering “excellence in construction” across building & civil engineering projects in the Yorkshire & Humber region over the last 12 months. There are thirteen categories in total and you are free to enter as many projects and categories as you like, indeed multiple entries are encouraged! All category winners go on to compete against other regional winners at the National Constructing Excellence Awards held in Autumn. Last year our region walked away with two national accolades in the Value and BIM Project of the Year categories and we are striving to better this in 2016!

Entering our awards will bring enormous benefits to your business, rewarding your staff and raising your profile as a forward thinking organisation helping you to win more work. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to show off your achievements to over 400 of your professional peers.

The closing date for entries is Friday 29th April 2016 with the winners being revealed at our gala dinner which this year will be held on 1st July (venue t.b.c)

Following on from our spectacular 2015 ceremony at the National Railway Museum in York, we will be returning to Leeds for our gala presentation evening for the first time in three years and to celebrate we will be doing something very different on the evening itself. All will be revealed in the new year, however we can guarantee that attendees will be treated to our usual blend of excellent hosting, food, drink and hospitality interspersed with our professional & lively awards ceremony.

So now that we have sufficiently whet your appetite, get working on those entries!

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF CATEGORIES AVAILABLE AND HOW TO ENTER

We have a number of fantastic sponsorship opportunities for the 2016 awards.

Contact Liz Schofield on 0113 812 1902 or via ceyhawards@leedsbeckett.ac.uk to discuss how your business can benefit.

Well, what can we say but what a night! Last Friday saw the culmination of six months meticulous planning by the Constructing Excellence team to bring you this year’s Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber Awards 2015, and what a night it was! Held at the National Railway Museum in York, this  event brought together over 350 industry professionals, representing a wide cross-section of the construction sector, in a spectacular celebration to recognise and reward the very best examples of construction excellence, achievement and best practice the regional built environment has been involved in over the last 12 months.

Sponsored by AtlasCloud, attendees were treated to a champagne drinks reception, a gourmet three course meal dining amongst the museum’s magnificent collection of historical carriages, and a fantastic AV show interspersed with a rousing awards presentation.  Fourteen different awards were handed out, each representing the core themes of the Constructing Excellence strategy, including leadership and people development, SME of the year and new for 2015, BIM project of the year.

In addition, attendees were also encouraged to share images from their tables to social media with a bottle of bubbly being awarded for the best “selfie” of the night! Our excellent host for the evening was BBC Look North’s Amy Garcia who kept proceedings both professional and relaxed as well as introducing the audience to the “belfie” (look it up if you don’t know!).

Carillion Morgan Sindall secured the biggest haul of the night walking away with three awards for their A1 Leeming to Barton improvement project; Innovation, BIM Project of the Year & Best of the Best categories. Other winners included Interserve who secured the Value category for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary project, Opus International Consultants who took the leadership prize and hull-based contractors M B Roche & Sons who were named SME of the Year. Morgan Sindall Grontmij Joint Venture rounded off a successful night for the Morgan Sindall Group by scooping the much coveted Project of the Year award for highly inventive time & cost efficiencies implemented at Castleford Waste Treatment works.

However the real winner on the evening was the industry itself. The sheer breadth of shortlisted projects, schemes & organisations represented at this year’s awards demonstrate once again that our regional construction sector continues to push boundaries & lead the way in driving up industry standards and “doing things better”. Innovation and creativity shone through all the projects entered with many underpinned by Construction 2025 core themes & vision. Collaboration was also a key theme of the evening with many of the shortlisted projects being undertaken in partnership demonstrating that we really are “stronger together”. The future of the industry also looks to be in good hands with an inspiring presentation delivered by three students from St Ambrose Barlow High School with big plans for their careers in our industry – future keynote speakers perhaps!

So all we have left to say is congratulations and a big THANK YOU to all our sponsors, supporters, entrants and participants who have made this year’s #ceyhawards the best one yet and we look forward to working with you all again to set the bar even higher next year!

Thank you

Liz, Mitch & Donna, CKE Team

Full List of Winners and Highly Commended

Achiever of the Year (sponsored by Leeds Sustainability Institute)

Winner:  Tom Dolan , Kier Construction

Client of the Year (sponsored by William Anelay)

Winner:  The University of York, Nominated by Faithful+Gould

Health & Safety (Sponsored by William Birch & Sons)

Winner:  Hull Re Roofs Project , Lovell

Highly Commended:  Henry Boot Construction Ltd

Heritage (sponsored by Lovell)

Winner:  Sewerby Hall Access Project, East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Highly Commended:   The Judge’s Lodgings, William Anelay

Innovation (sponsored by Project Five Consulting)

Winner:  A1 Leeming to Barton Improving Large Goods Vehicles (LGV) Driver Behaviour through Roadworks, Carillion Morgan Sindall JV

Highly Commended:  M1 Junction 33 – Highways BIM Project , Aggregate Industries UK Ltd in collaboration Costain Ltd and Mouchel

Integration & Collaborative Working (sponsored by Faithful+Gould)

Winner:  York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Kier Construction

Highly Commended:  Yorkshire Water Integrated Asset Management team,

Leadership & People Development (sponsored by ESH Construction)

Winner:  Opus International Consultants (UK) Ltd

Highly Commended:  A-one+ STEM Ambassador Group, A-one+ Integrated Highway Services

Sustainability (sponsored by Interserve Construction)

Winner: Little Kelham, Citu

Highly Commended: Golcar Passivhaus, Green Building Store

Highly Commended: Area 12 Managing Agent Contract, A-one+ Integrated Highway Services

Project of the Year (sponsored by M3 Ltd)

Winner:  Castleford Waste Water Treatment Works , Morgan Sindall Grontmij Joint Venture

2^nd Place:  Tophill Low WTW – Nitrate removal plant, Amey

1^st Highly Commended:  Bowcliffe Hall, Conlon Construction

2^nd Highly Commended:  The Kelpies, Falkirk, SH Structures Ltd

SME of the Year (sponsored by East Riding of Yorkshire Council)

Winner:  M.B.Roche & Sons Ltd

Value (sponsored by Gosschalks Solicitors)

Winner:  Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Interserve Construction

Young Achiever G4C (sponsored by Class of Your Own)

Winner:  Danielle Kirk -Mitchell, Henry Boot Construction

Highly Commended:  Tom Wilcox Harrison, Simpson (York) Limited

BIM Project of the Year (sponsored by Tekla UK)

Winner:  A1(M) Leeming to Barton Improvements, Carillion Morgan Sindall Joint Venture

Highly Commended:  A160 Port of Immingham Improvements Project – A Highways England ‘BIM Early Adopter’, Costain

Best of the Best

Winner:  A1(M) Leeming to Barton Improvements, Carillion Morgan Sindall Joint Venture

On Wednesday 27^th May, at Addleshaw Goddard in Leeds, we held our fifth breakfast seminar of 2015 where we welcomed representatives from two regional public sector clients, Cliff Jones from ProCure21+ & Steve Baker from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, to lift the lid on why & how the public sector procures the way it does.

Both presentations gave a concise but excellent summary of the client’s perspective and what they look for from their supply chains when recruiting to a framework using real case studies from their respective sectors. Both presenters managed to cram a wealth of useful information & advice in to their 20 minute slots; in addition to finding out that Steve Baker is a closet Black Sabbath fan, here is what else we learnt…

Why do Clients procure?

A simple but often lost message. Clients don’t build because they want to build, they build because there is a need in order to deliver services & those needs to be effectively communicated by the client & understood by the supply chain. Some examples include;

• New technologies & processes: Technology moves quickly, particularly in the NHS, and new or existing facilities have to be created & adapted to accommodate this
• New products & services: Cliff Jones using the example of manufacturing, a new product may require a whole new production line
• New opportunities & markets: Retailers often have to address regional demographics, different products required for different areas requiring different facilities
• Additional capacity/Increased Turnover
• Maintenance: To address ongoing maintenance, particular in line with new safety & environmental legislation.

Why does the public sector procure the way it does?

In an ideal world the process would be as simple as possible; easy to understand PQQ’s & ITT documents that are quick to fill in. However,

• Legislation: public sector procurement has to evidence adherence to an enormous amount of legislation & best practice documentation; such as EU Legislation, UK Legislation and guidance documentation such as Public Contract Regulations 2015 & in Steve’s case additional Local Authority Procurement guidance (see image below)

• Transparency: Public sector procurement has to be open, they have to have tender requirements with clear criteria that can demonstrate how best value for public money is evidenced & how companies are selected
• Due Diligence: The public sector have to take experience into consideration to mimimise risk of project failure
• Finances: The public sector have to carry out a wealth of checks and audits to ensure that the company has the financial security to deliver the project; again minimising risk ofproject failure & potential public money losses.
• Increased Turnover: Occasionally you will get an SME who wants to tender for a job that would be an %50 or above increase in their annual turnover. Procurement teams have to be confident that the supplier can manage such a large increase. Do they have the relevant experience, teams and individuals for a significant increase?
• PQQs: public sector has to deliver PAS 91 (more info here http://shop.bsigroup.com/Navigate-by/PAS/PAS-91-2013/ )
• Compliance is key & therefore tender documents have to be lengthy & perhaps more complicated than ideal to ensure the right questions are being asked to ensure legal, financial & social e.t.c . compliance

Why Frameworks?

Frameworks have their detractors but both ProCure21+ & East Riding of Yorkshire Council use them. Here is why they believe they work;

• Reduces Costs: It costs around 10,000 to procure a small job but can be as much as £70Kto 100K for larger projects. Frameworks avoid exhorbitant procurement costs being spent on every job.
• Reduces Time: The procuring organisation does not have to go through OJEU process every time which for large projects can take up to six months.
• Pushes Continual Improvement Agenda: Frameworks can have standard measures & performance KPIs built in to them so organisations can usefully compare their supply chain and individual teams within them
• Social Value: the latest generation of frameworks have to address the social value act with real tangible outcomes to be measured. More about how YorBuild are addressing the social Value Act here
• Builds relationships & Reduces Disputes: The potential for repeat work for companies on the framework facilitates greater co-operation between the client & their supply chain
• BIM: Opportunity for BIM requirements to be built into framework and therefore promotes adoption throughout the supply chain.
• SME support: there is a misconception that SMEs are generally excluded from the supply chain when in fact 90 to 95% of work is carried out by SMEs. In the future more frameworks will contain ‘value’ lots widening participation. Procure 21 also has barred exclusivity in their frameworks to ensure that their T1 contractors distribute subcontract work fairly.

What does this mean for those involved in delivering work & what does the client want?

• Understanding the Client’s business & how it operates: if you don’t understand it then how can you advise them? For instance in the NHS, contractors need to understand how a hospital works; what your operatives can & can’t do on site. Understand who all the stakeholders are on the project and what their needs are.
• Early Supply Chain involvement & collaboration: Help the client with their strategic planning, but they don’t need to know the ins and outs of the project. Clients are looking for whole solution providers so work with those in your supply chain and ask their advice. Ask the bricklayers the best way to do the job. Work with, don’t dictate. Engage people to ask the right questions at the right time.Standardisation & Sharing of information: facilitating the reuse of working designs & copying successful builds. The NHS has repeatable rooms for standard facilities, such as private bedrooms, patient bathrooms e.t.c (see image below)
• Standardisation & sharing of information: facilitating the reuse of working designs & using them on future builds. For instance as in the NHS “repeatable rooms” standard  below;
• 
• Reliability: Delivering the project defects free. Defects are extremely disruptive to the client, particularly in NHS
• Longer Warranties: NHS has a two year warranty on components but are pushing for longer.
• Reduce Client’s Operational Costs: Some great examples from Cliff below

All the tweets from the seminar can be viewed at the storify below and don’t forget to book your place at our next Constructing Excellence breakfast on Contract Law where we will be discussing the merits of JCTS and NEC3 contracts. This seminar will take place on Wednesday 24th June at Addleshaw Goddard’s in Leeds. All details and booking here

Join us on 29th October at Addleshaw Goddard in Leeds where we will be presenting real life case studies on the topics of BIM adoption for SMEs and behavioural workplace health & safety. Our speakers for the event include;

Duncan Reed, Digital Construction Process Manager, Tekla (UK) Ltd Best practice case studies of SMEs adopting BIM across the UK – thinkBIM has been delivering CITB funded training for SMEs to show how they can build BIM into their businesses. Duncan’s presentation will share some of the great ideas that have come from these sessions that are allowing SMEs to “do BIM”

Claire Fryer, Senior Behavioural Management Consultant, Costain Claire will be talking about behavioural workplace health and safety and how this has been implemented at Costain As always there will be plenty of time for shared discussion & networking at the end of the session. Further details & event booking can be found here