Category: Yorkshire and Humber (page 2 of 2)

Race Up the Hill for NHS Yorkshire Cancer Centre

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A 9.15 start at Pugney Watersports Park for a Run Up The Hill to Sandal Castle saw over a hundred runners enter the event.  Just over 5K, the short trial was quite demanding, with hills, fields and mud – plenty of mud to contend with. 98 athletes of all ages completed the challenge the youngest only 5 and the dignity of the oldest competitor will remain hidden, but needless to say the 50+ age group was one of the largest contingent of entries, with some of our senior runners in the front pack.  The trail was muddy, bumpy and lumpy, the sun was out, the weather very kind. Participation and smiles for all was the main aim of the event.

Race Up The Hill, is an event inspired by the late Ruth Gorse, a sports enthusiast and teacher from Leeds who always wanted people to have fun and participate in sport.  Ruth had breast cancer very young, but continued to run, play basketball, volleyball and take children’s teams to athletics and a whole manner of other events.  Although Ruth’s life was shortened, her time with us and those that engaged in sport with Ruth was rich with laughter, fun and enjoyment of sport, whether laughing at sporting blunders and trips or being the first to cross the line.  The Race Up The Hill (R.U.T.H.) events will aim to run at no cost or low costs – keeping the costs for participation low so all can get involved.  The inaugural run at Pugneys has raised over £600 for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre, which was amazing since we had a low entry fee and just asked for donations on the day.

The winners on the day were Brendon Wain, with a winning time of 19.22. First lady was Ruth Draisey (25.40),  first 40+ male Scott Kelly, first 40+ lady Michelle Tones,  first male 50+ Dave Hammond, 1st 50+ lady Elaine Kelly, 1st under 17 lady Imogen Morely, 1st under 17 male Stewart Lee.  Other results are available at RaceUpTheHill.com with other winners of younger categories included.

more pictures here RACEUPTHEHILL 2017 and  Results 12th March 2017 Pugneys Sandal Castle RaceUpTheHill

Best regards,

Chris Gorse

Factory 2050: “The Factory of the Future”

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Thursday 30th March 2017

 

AMRC Factory 2050, Sheffield – S9 1ZA

08:30 for registration, 09:00-10:30 

Refreshments provided!


Factory 2050 is a smart factory and arguably the world’s most advanced production facility.

Completed in late 2015 it is a joint venture between the University of Sheffield and Boeing and has been a catalyst for future investment within South Yorkshire’s buoyant advanced manufacturing district.

It is the UK’s first totally reconfigurable, digital factory for collaborative research and provides a world class environment for robotics and automation, integrated large volume metrology, digitally assisted assembly and manufacturing informatics.

 

It was also a game changer project for Interserve within Yorkshire, their first project for the University of Sheffield and their first advanced manufacturing project within the region.

The project has been a huge success; it was delivered safely, on time and within budget whilst overcoming a number of challenges associated with a circular building and a logistically complex site.

The excellence of the outcomes achieved along with the collaborative approach adopted, recognised by the project being crowned the National Constructing Excellence ‘Building Project of the Year’ in 2016.

Please join us on Thursday 30th March at Factory 2050, where the Interserve project team will present a case study on the project and provide a tour of the facility.

             


To get involved join us at

AMCR Factory 2050, Sheffield S9 1ZA

Thursday 30th March 2017 08:30-10:30

Click here to book your place for this not to be missed event!


Planning and Housing Strategies in the Combined Authorities – Leeds Planning Network Master Class 16 February

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Planning and housing strategies are essential for economic growth in the Combined Authorities and delegates at the Leeds Planning Network event in February had the opportunity to study three different approaches.
Speakers from Greater Manchester Combined Authority, South Yorkshire and Leeds City Regions provided much needed insight into the impact on planning and housing strategies on the city devolution agenda. They were ably chaired by consultant and researcher Jane Kettle, and addressed an audience of around 50 practitioners. Identifying a choice of strategies, the three speakers shared a vision that links housing growth to rising prosperity.

Anne Morgan, Planning Strategy Manager for Greater Manchester set out the benefits and challenges of the Combined Authority. The ability to produce a Greater Manchester spatial framework has made it possible to identify strategic growth areas, and plan collectively and consistently across ten local government areas. The spatial framework is supported by Mayoral compulsory purchase powers, and benefits from the potential to create Mayoral development companies. It has enabled the authorities to identify priorities, not only for economic growth but for the enhancement of green infrastructure. But it has also entangled the Combined Authority in public controversy over the loss of green belt land as tough decisions on housing allocations are made.
You can look at Anne Morgan’s  presentation here: Anne Morgan – GMSF Leeds .

While the route to becoming a Combined Authority has not been smooth in South Yorkshire, a collective approach to planning and housing has emerged from the bottom-up. A housing compact agreed between registered providers in South Yorkshire was hailed by Tony Stacy, chief executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association, a leap forward in co-operation and joint planning. The compact between local authorities and housing associations demonstrates a willingness to work collaboratively in meeting housing need. It has resulted in a joint bid for housing investment and plans to radically expand the number of new homes built. Housing – once excluded from the priorities of the city region – is now seen as a key part of the infrastructure of economic growth.
 You can look at Tony Stacy’s presentation here: Tony Stacey – Devolution, housing and Planning

An infrastructure investment framework has enabled the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to co-ordinate strategic planning in the Leeds city region and neighbouring areas. Colin Blackburn, Head of Infrastructure, stressed the need for a shared approach to planning and placemaking. While political structures evolve slowly, it is co-operation between authorities on development frameworks, land acquisition, site selection that makes combination possible. Significant challenges to housing delivery persist, and the Government White Paper provided few solutions, but agreement on strategy and consistency in approach are key achievements for West Yorkshire authorities.
You can find Colin Blackburn’s presentation here: Colin Blackburn RTPI – Planning and Housing Under Devo

 

By  Quintin Bradley

 

 

CEYH Excellence Breakfast Series -25th January 2017

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Tackling the Skills Gap at CEYH May Breakfast seminar

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 Julie Deeley, Futureworks Yorkshire

On 25th May we held the second of our Hull based Constructing Excellence breakfasts at Gosschalks Solicitors, this time tackling one of the most prevalent issues in the industry at the moment, the skills shortage. It has been predicted that the industry will create around 190,000 new jobs by the end of 2018 but the growing fear is that the talent will not be there to fill those posts. At our event we heard from Futureworks Yorkshire and Wates Group on how they are working to create apprenticeships and encourage new entrants to our industry in order to try and tackle this deificit.

Debbie Hall, Business Reporter at Hull Daily Mail has done a summary of the main points in her  article dated 31st May (link here). The article has also been reproduced below for ease.

 

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 L-R Angie Eardley (Wates), Janet Mulcrone (Leeds Beckett), Tom Oulton (CEYH), Liz Schofield (CEYH), Matthew Fletcher (Gosschalks)

Construction firms urged to help tackle impending shortage in talent

COMPANIES are being urged to help tackle the skills shortage in the construction industry. The issue was the focus of an “excellence breakfast” hosted by Hull law firm Gosschalks. The event, organised by Constructing Excellence in Yorkshire & Humber (CEYH), was held amid growing fears there will not be sufficient talent within the country to fill the predicted 190,000 new jobs that will be created in construction by the end of 2018. The industry is seen as one of the leading pillars of the UK economy and the lack of required skills could have a huge impact on economic recovery, according to CEYH. The event saw more than 30 delegates from a range of contractors, councils, training groups and construction consultancies, in attendance.

Steve Savage, Development Director at Gosschalks, opened the proceedings and Tom Oulton, chairman of CEYH, gave an introduction in which he spoke about the Government’s Construction Strategy for 2016 to 2020, which sets out to increase productivity in government construction to deliver £1.7bn efficiencies and support 20,000 apprenticeships over the period.

One of the speakers was Julie Deeley, operations manager for Futureworks Yorkshire, one of the organisations working to tackle the skills deficit and nurture homegrown talent. She offered insight into how Futureworks is working with construction companies, local organisations and communities across Yorkshire to offer increased apprenticeships and work experience opportunities. Ms Deeley said: “It is not about providing all the answers today, it is about opening your mind to what your company can do about meeting this skills shortage.” Futureworks is based in Hull and Rotherham and delivers the award- winning YORfuture scheme across the Yorkshire and Humber region. It provides apprenticeships within the sector, including technical, trades, administration and manufacturing/distribution roles.

Ms Deeley told delegates that the YORfuture shared apprenticeship scheme provided a solution to apprenticeship recruitment when employers may not have the resources to take apprentices on a full-time basis. Asked about the difficulty of encouraging schools to see the opportunities that exist in the industry, Ms Deeley said: “What we need to do is get out there as much as possible and put out the word on construction and what a good career it is. We need, as a sector, to get the message out that there are many different careers you can have in construction, in particular for females. ”

Another speaker was Angie Eardley, community investment adviser at Wates Group, a family-owned construction company that is currently helping to create an £80m housing development in Hull for people with care needs. She spoke to the audience about the group’s community investment commitments and it’s supply chain and social enterprise engagement. The delegates heard the CITB, the national training organisation for construction in the UK, has reported that another 230,000 workers will be needed in the construction sector in the next five years – a figure that equates to 3,230 people each year in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

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Julie and Angie’s presentations along with a storify of the best tweets/images from the morning can be viewed at the links below.

 Click below for full Presentations from 25th May 2016

#CEYH2016 Awards: Proud to be different!

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As I write this post we are now just under five days to go until we close for this year’s Constructing Excellence in Yorkshire and Humber awards and we are very excited to see what you have all been up to in the last 12 months. We are really heartened by the response of local companies so far and can’t wait to get stuck into the judging process and organising the rest of the evening. There is still time to get your entries in – follow the links below or visit our dedicated awards page here

Not just your average awards ceremony

Here at the CKE, we take the responsibility of providing the best possible platform to showcase your projects, organisations and individuals extremely seriously, which is why you will never see us run the same event twice! Just like our entrants we aim for our awards ceremony to represent the common themes of our awards in being innovative, collaborative and dynamic.

For instance, at last year’s awards we were the only region to run a selfie competition, which was so successful that it was adopted at the nationals. Not just an excuse to take silly pictures (although that is always welcome), the selfie competition helped to raise the profile of the awards across social media giving extra coverage to the companies involved. We will be running it again this year so don’t forget to bring those phones and snap away!

If you are still undecided, here are just three more reasons why our awards are different and how your business will benefit from being involved,

  • Our dynamic team are all from construction/engineering backgrounds. With over twenty years combined industry experience, we know how to sell what the industry does best
  • Our awards are an experience as well as a ceremony. Every year the team try to do something different on the night itself to ensure the event is memorable for all the right reasons and is a real reward for the individuals and teams who take part. With this year’s Swinging from the Rooftops theme, this year is no exception! We have a number of surprises planned for you on the night – we can’t wait for you to see them!
  • Our added value with our relationships to the National Constructing Excellence network, Yorkshire and Humber Constructing Excellence Club, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Sustainability Institute and our thinkBIM, Green Vision networks. Going forward there will be plenty of opportunities for our entrants to showcase their work at our breakfast and twilight seminars, our half day conferences and through site visits.

How to enter

Fully inclusive and completely free to enter, we welcome submissions from any organisations, companies &/or project teams involved in delivering building & civil engineering projects in our region over the last 12 months. With 13 categories to choose from we are sure there is one for you! The closing date for entries is 29th April 2016 and all the forms can be downloaded from the links below.

Achiever of the Year

BIM Project of the Year

Client of the Year

Health and Safety

Heritage

Innovation

Integration & Collaborative Working

Leadership & People Development

Project of the Year

SME of the Year

Sustainability

Value

Young Achiever of the Year

We look forward to reading your entries!

With thanks to our sponsors

Sponsors-Collage-March2016

Upbeat community planners thank Leeds Beckett for practical help

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More than fifty volunteers from Leeds communities took part in an upbeat and enthusiastic neighbourhood planning workshop organised by Leeds Beckett University’ School of the Built Environment & Engineering on 30 January. They worked together to shape a vision for their communities helped by practical tips on plan-making and design from the university’s planning and housing lecturers. This was the second event in a programme of activities in which Leeds Beckett puts the skills and knowledge of its staff at the service of neighbourhoods in Leeds. Feedback from the workshop was unanimously positive and delegates went away with fresh ideas on how to deal with the thorny issues they face in the community.

Quintin Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Planning at Leeds Beckett University, said: “Sixty communities in Leeds, and many others across Yorkshire, are setting out a vision for how their local community will develop. They need technical assistance and expert advice to do this neighbourhood plan. Leeds Beckett is making sure they get the help they need.” The workshop was organised by Leeds Planning Network, one the new research clusters set up by the School of the Built Environment and Engineering supported by the Centre for Knowledge Exchange.

Delegates heard from Jeff Newton and John Steel, community volunteers in Boston Spa who are in the final stages of their neighbourhood plan. They talked about their innovative new designs for the high street and plans for a renewable energy scheme. Jeff and John stressed that plan-making was hard work but they were enthusiastic about the future and the improvements they wanted for their village (see their presentation below).

Detailed guidance on the legal aspects of plan-making was given by Bob Pritchard, specialist planning lawyer and guest lecturer at Leeds Beckett. He spelled out what a neighbourhood plan could achieve and what should go in it. This was vital information for delegates learning to write planning policy that will guide development in their community over the next twenty years (see his presentation below).

Following this, there were three discussion groups each focusing on themes requested by delegates at the previous workshop. Will Sparling, PhD candidate at Leeds Beckett gave help to inner-city communities working together on common problems. Planning lecturer, Harvey Pritchard gave advice on planning for infrastructure, while Jenny Fisher, principle urban designer for Leeds City Council helped delegates work on improving the look and feel of their neighbourhoods. Delegates were full of praise for the Leeds Beckett event and gave the organisers many more ideas for future workshops.

Copy of Leeds City Council “Neighbourhood Planning & Design Issues” Document to download

The next neighbourhood planning workshop is 16 April 2016 but in the mean time Leeds Planning Network will be holding two planning masterclass events on Tuesday 1st March (Details here)  and Thursday 17th March (Details here

 

Getting our Construction Act together – First Humber region breakfast event of 2015/2016 hailed a success!

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The Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber seminar held in Hull on Thursday 12th November 2015 was hailed a success by attendees as they left Gosschalks’s offices with plenty to think about. Over 60 construction industry professionals from the region registered for a place at the seminar, which was presented by Gosschalks’s contentious and non-contentious construction law team. The seminar covered complex issues surrounding payment and Pay Less Notices, and the recent case law developments that affect payment under the Construction Act.

This sparked a lively Q&A discussion among the attendees about the requirements for effective notices, and was described afterwards by one delegate as “an eye opener!”

Matthew Fletcher, Partner and Head of Construction and Litigation at Gosschalks, said: “We were delighted to deliver this event with the Constructing Excellence team and play host to their first East Yorkshire event in a number of years, and we were thrilled by the positive feedback the event generated. Our aim was to get those who deal with payments under construction contracts thinking and to understand the potentially heavy financial implications if they fail to issue timely notices. We provided up an update on several key cases where it has been necessary for the Technology & Construction Court to interpret the revised payment procedures contained in the Construction Act. Construction companies really don’t want to be caught in the Act!”

Chris Groves, Partner and non-contentious and construction contracts expert at Gosschalks, commented:  “We addressed many of the consequences encountered when failing to issue time sensitive payment notices. This is a major issue for a lot of construction businesses and is something on which we are happy to share our expertise and advice. We’ve already been approached by a couple of individual companies who would like us to present this briefing at their premises.”

Liz Schofield, from  Constructing Excellence Yorkshire and Humber added, “We are really pleased to be bringing events back to the Humber region for the first time in over a year and were delighted to see a sixty plus audience comprising of an impressive mix of key people from the construction industry based in and around Hull and East Yorkshire. We are very much looking forward to partnering with Gosschalks to hold more events in this region in the New Year”.

A summary of the tweets and images from the breakfast event can be found in our storify summary below. Our next Constructing Excellence event will be on 21st January in Leeds and will focus on RIBA Stage 2, Specifications and BIM in Manufacturing – details and Booking here. Any questions, contact Liz and the CEYH team on +44 (0)113 812 1902 or ckeevents@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

For further information about Gosschalks events and services, please contact Claire Hill on +44(0)1482 590204 or clh@gosschalks.co.uk

CEYH returns to Hull for a Construction Act Update with Gosschalks Solicitors

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Join us in Hull for our first breakfast seminar for the rejuvinated Constructing Excellence Humber sub-region

12th November 2015, 08:00-09:30

For our first breakfast event in the Humber region we are pleased to have partnered with Gosschalks solicitors to bring you this FREE update on the Construction Act.

Led by an experienced team of contentious and non-contentious lawyers, this event will focus on a number of significant and recent case law developments which affect payment under the Construction Act and will provide you with useful tips to follow in order to avoid some of the most common and costly pitfalls.

Attendees will gain an overview of the current legislation on payments, entitlements under interim applications and tactical tips on drafting contract ammendments to protect your position.

If the prospect of free legal advice isn’t mouth-watering enough, those kind folks at Gosschalks are also providing breakfast butties (with a choice of sauces!) to help kick-start your day.

Click here to book

Gosschalks Solicitors, Queens Gardens, Dock Street, Hull

East Yorkshire, HU1 3DZ

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On twitter? Follow the hashtag #CEYH2015

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