Building Briefs – April 1st

• First Scottish-only builder receives five star rating in extended customer service survey

The first Scottish-only builder to receive a five star rating in an annual Customer Satisfaction Survey has been announced.

Perth-based A & J Stephen joins the ranks of other UK “five star” companies following extension of the initiative north of the border in November last year. 

Nicola Barclay, chief executive of industry body Homes for Scotland, which was behind the move, said: “We talk a lot about the need to deliver more housing, but we also want to focus on the importance of ensuring a high-quality home for each and every purchaser.  This is exactly the aim of the Survey, with the ratings based on whether buyers would recommend their builder to a friend.  And, encouragingly, at 87 per cent, levels are up across the UK on last year.

“Naturally, we want to see this improve further so providing a clear benchmark to help customers assess builders is fundamental in our drive to celebrate success, promote best practice and help raise standards across the home building industry.

“This is why the massive achievement of A & J Stephen in their first year of participation is so important.

John Stephen, managing director at A & J Stephen, said: “As a family firm based in Perth for over 80 years, our reputation is everything and we are delighted to have received this recognition from those who matter most – the clients who choose to invest in a Stephen home.

“Having received 15 NHBC ‘Pride in the Job’ awards, it’s great that clients also now have the chance to rate their builder. With 100% of all our respondents saying they would recommend us, we are absolutely thrilled to have exceeded the UK average recommendation rate of 87%.

“To have the endorsement of our customers is a brilliant demonstration of our commitment to getting both the product and our customer service right. However, we will not be resting on our laurels – this feedback will help guide and improve the way we manage not only customer relations but also product development and future design.”

 

The Dundee Institute of Architects has selected Jon Frullani as its new president.

 

The appointment was announced at their AGM, held at the recently completed Water’s Edge building at City Quay.

 

Mr Frullani, who operates his practice from Greenmarket, said: “The DIA represents architects in Dundee, Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross and I very much look forward to helping represent, support and promote them.”

 

The Dundee Institute of Architects was established in 1884 and is one of six chapters of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

 

 

• Morton Fraser bolsters construction law offering with three hires

Morton Fraser, the growing independent law firm, is strengthening its construction law offering through the recruitment of a team of contentious and non-contentious construction specialists.

Sandra Cassels will be joining the firm as a partner whilst Julie Scott-Gilroy and Caroline Earnshaw will join as associates.

The new hires further underline the firm’s commitment to a ‘talent first’ strategy, which has underpinned 60 per cent revenue growth over the last five years. They come less than a month after Alan Stewart arrived as partner in the wider Commercial Real Estate team and bring that team’s total headcount to 64 people.

Jonathan Seddon, who heads the firm’s construction team, said: “Sandra, Julie and Caroline are all talented and experienced construction law specialists with great reputations in the market. They will add significantly to the strength in depth of our team. The roster of truly independent Scottish firms is dwindling, and our focus on talent is setting us apart.”

Morton Fraser’s Commercial Real Estate team has seen revenues grow by 11 per cent in the last 12 months and was recently shortlisted for Property Legal Team of the Year at the Scottish Property Awards 2019.

 

 

Aggregate Industries has become the first construction materials supplier to achieve PAS 2080 verification after demonstrating its ongoing commitment to supplying low carbon solutions to infrastructure projects.

A major milestone for the firm, Aggregate Industries underwent a rigorous, independent audit process by the BSI to be certified as the first supplier of its kind that can ensure delivery of infrastructure projects meet the PAS 2080 standard.

As the world’s first specification for managing whole-life carbon in infrastructure, PAS 2080 has been developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI) and requires firms to show continuous improvement in reducing the whole life carbon emissions across the entirety of their operations and supply chain.

As such, the verification serves as formal recognition of Aggregate Industries’ commitment to managing its operations in a responsible, sustainable way so that it continues to make a positive contribution to the built environment for future generations.

Paul McCaffrey, sustainable products manager at Aggregate Industries, said: “We’re delighted to achieve this verification as it’s an important demonstration of our continuing commitment to helping our clients minimise carbon emissions in the infrastructure supply chain.

“We can help designers at Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) stage to design lower carbon solutions. Our management systems (ISO 14001 and 50001) ensure consistent and reliable data collection, allowing our carbon managers to report embodied CO2 to other members of the value chain. Baseline data made available to the value chain allows carbon targets to be set at design phase and for performance to be monitored against these targets during project delivery. This will result in infrastructure with lower embodied carbon.”

Donna Hunt, head of sustainability at Aggregate Industries, said: “With infrastructure still accounting for over half of the UK’s carbon emissions, creating a more sustainable, built environment requires strong leadership in carbon management, early supplier engagement and a real commitment across the value chain to reducing embodied carbon. We are proud to say Aggregate Industries is PAS 2080-verified and are ready to help the industry meet the carbon challenge.”

 

• Edinburgh outperforms uk offices market as capital growth slows in some regions

Analysis of the UK office investment volumes show that £1.3 billion has been invested so far this year (to mid-March 2019) but investment performance has varied across regional markets, says Savills, with specific office markets showing significant under/over performance depending on their position in the cycle.

With positive occupational markets, lack of development and limited choice for occupiers, Edinburgh, together with Brighton and Cambridge, is recognised as a ‘high performer’ by valuers who are applying higher rental value growth and increases in capital values. In comparison, markets such as Oxford, Nottingham and Glasgow have seen no or limited growth in capital values but their strengthening occupational markets have driven rental growth - this will feed through to income return in the medium-term and have a positive impact on values, says Savills.

Mark Porter, director in Savills UK investment team, said: “Income return is largely driving the performance of the office investment market at the moment, although some cities are still seeing positive capital growth. Even those behind the curve at the moment are likely to see positive uplift in the next few months as the major regional cities are generally undersupplied with new office development, and are forecast to see continued employment, keeping them high on investors’ wish lists in 2019.”

Rod Leslie, director in the investment team at Savills in Edinburgh, said: “Low yields in Edinburgh reflect the potential for rental growth and lack of risk however despite the strong level of investor demand, the level of activity continues to be hampered by a lack of opportunity. By investing in Edinburgh you are investing in a landlords market as supply is so limited and with its World Heritage status there will be restricted opportunity to change this dynamic. Regardless of Brexit, the simple economic argument around supply and demand of good quality offices is very compelling.”

Steve Lang, director in Savills commercial research team, adds: “Overall, the analysis shows quite how much a market’s position in the property cycle can impact short-term returns. For example, some have been ‘hit’ with a short-term structural shifts impacting from a weaker local occupational markets, such as Aberdeen, where oil price falls have led to lower valuations, but despite having been a lower performing office market in the current cycle, it is still a key city expected to out-perform as sentiment recovers.”