Bangor College has awarded Phil Foulkes, a twenty-three year old plasterer from Llanberis, with the Apprentice of the Year award. He came top out of 200 students at Colleg Menai, however left the college last year after completing the final year of his course.
His tutor at the time, Mike Gashe, commended Phil on his achievement, saying,
“He has proved that you can go forward and has done well for himself.”
Foulkes left school without having achieved any qualifications, however he admits that he wasn’t interested in school. Enrolling on the course at Colleg Menai gave him an opportunity to learn something new and learn the skill of plastering, which he both enjoys and is good at.
After finishing his three year course, Phil went on to start his own plastering business, however he is not the only tradesperson in his family. Phil has 6 brothers and sisters, of whom 2 are joiners and another is a fellow plasterer.
The Apprentice of the Year award isn’t the first that the young plasterer has been awarded. He previously won the National Skillbuild Championship gold medal, which had he not now been too old to enter, Phil would have automatically been eligible for a place in the world plastering championships.
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2009 was a poor year with the UK construction industry as a whole having been hit very hard by the recession. As well as commercial cuts in spending on development and building projects, homeowners also tightened their belts and purse strings so companies catering for both commercial and domestic customers could not even rely on the other half of their market to provide a positive.
After seeing a decline in profits in 2009, although 2010 isn’t likely to provide a miracle cure to make up for last year’s reduction in revenue, paving firm Marshalls are beginning to see a turn in the market for 2010 compared to this time last year. Marshalls, who have just been recognised as a 2010 Business Superbrand for their strength as a B2B brand, receive 60% of their revenue from commercial, public sector and corporate customers and 40% of sales as generated by sales to residential homeowners.
Marshalls supply a range of paving and driveway products and both functional and decorative items to enhance gardens, including walling materials, paving, greenhouses, summerhouses, garages and products to assist with water management in your garden. Their range of hard landscaping materials is produced with commitment to quality products, with the Marshalls group including a number of prominent brands including Classical Flagstones, supplying stone flooring and flagging in both contemporary and traditional ranges, Compton concrete garages, Alton cedar greenhouses and Robinsons aluminium greenhouses. In addition to the companies that are part of the Marshalls group, the paving and hard landscaping firm also supplies garden furniture and planters, outdoor lighting and stone benches and a range of garden gates.
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The first step towards replacing your old broken and insecure fencing is to choose your fence panels and the height that you want your fencing to come to. Once that decision has been made however, deciding which posts you are to use when erecting a fence is equally important.
There are a number of options available, but some are more practical than others depending on the type of fence you are planning to erect in your garden:
- concrete posts
- wooden posts
- metal posts
Most posts are available in a range of different heights, but you need to bear in mind that in some cases, there may be restrictions in place about where you can erect fencing and the maximum height that fencing can be, for example in conservation areas or if your new fence will block out light to a neighbour’s garden. If in doubt, it is always best to speak to a local planning officer at your local council.
First and foremost when erecting a fence the obvious and perhaps most important thing to do is to decide what type of fence will suit your needs. There are 4 main types of fencing that you can use:
- closeboard
- palisade
- overlap
- trellis
By understanding what each of these types of fencing look like and are suitable for, you will be able to get the best type of fence to suit your needs.
Closeboard fencing is made from overlapped boards of timber. Closeboard fence panels provide complete privacy and are the strongest of the 4 main types of fence.
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Insulating your home is a fairly simple job that doesn’t require any special DIY skills. It is cost effective and could save you a fortune in electricity and central heating bills by reducing the amount of heat lost from your home. The better your insulation in your home is, the less you will have to use heaters. Having your central heating on all the time is both expensive and also results in a bigger carbon foot print.
Insulating pipes and water tanks is very important especially in the winter. It only takes a couple of hours to protect your plumbing and can prove to be worth the time in the end if it prevents pipework problems. If these freeze, they could burst and that is the last thing that anyone wants to happen; an emergency plumber call out can be expensive.
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Contractors have begun installing a £628k perimeter fence around the airport on the Isle of Man in line with plans drawn up by the Department for Transport in 2005. The plans for the fence installation were originally proposed when it was found that sections of fencing were broken or damaged, leaving the perimeter of the airfield insecure. In addition, a stile crossing the wall of the airfield enabled public access to the airfield itself.
The work to erect fencing around the site began yesterday and will stretch 3.7 miles with areas of the airport that need to be protected by high security fencing being surrounded with concrete fence posts that are 2.8 metres high, with a layer of barbed wire as an additional deterrent to trespassers. Metal fence posts with lower level metal fencing will provide a secure boundary around other areas of the airport perimeter as a cheaper option where high security isn’t such an issue.
The high cost of installing the airport security fencing has resulting in criticism being directed at the Department for Transport, however airport director, Ann Reynolds maintains that the benefits of providing additional safety and security justify the cost, saying that the current inadequate security leave those using the airport vulnerable because of the “number of trespassers” using the airfield as a short cut.
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A garage is often over looked as extra valuable space and is most of the time piled with junk, old bikes, Christmas decorations and anything else people don’t want to throw away. Rather than waste this space it can be quite easily turned into that office or home gym you always wanted or even an extra bedroom’ whatever you need the extra space for a garage conversion is a great option.
Another consideration is if you need to make mobility alterations to your home and require more single level living accommodation. A garage conversion can often be the most practical solution as an average sized garage would give adequate space for a good sized bedroom and en suite with a shower for easy access, or perhaps with a wet room, or if you already have a downstairs bathroom, a living/sleeping space could be created.
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While carrying out property development of a historic listed building in Aberdeen, Stewart Property Services Ltd carried out unauthorised internal work to the property, making changes that planning permission had not been granted to cover. The unauthorised work consisted of creating 15 bedrooms in the property which had been approved to consist of 9 bedrooms, with the remaining space being used for resident meeting space, games rooms and seating areas.
The affected space contained two examples of fine plaster ceilings dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, which were considered to be among the best examples of decorative plasterwork that have survived to be seen today. An historic buildings inspector who visited the property in 2007 had commented at the time that although there were ‘grander, more elaborate’ examples than the ceilings that could be seen in the Victoria Court property in public buildings in the city such as theatres, they were not as old, and it was also noted that the plasterwork ceilings of the listed building were in good condition.
When the planners questioned about the unauthorised work, the developer advised that as renovation work had progressed, problems with dry and wet rot had been discovered which would have resulted in a large amount of repair work which would have been costly. The developer also tried to justify the change to 15 bedrooms rather than the original approved 9 bedrooms that he was requesting retrospective planning permission for by advising that it was “financially imperative” for his company to allow the change to the original permission.
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Danfoss, a family owned global business and one of Denmark’s biggest industrial companies, manufacture, service and sell mechanical parts and electronic components around the world for a number of industries. Their products include heating solutions, air conditioning controls, and controls for appliances and water systems.
Danfoss have announced that they have launched a free new CPD seminar which will be called ‘The Complete Design Solution for Variable Flow Systems’. The new seminar, which will add to current seminars offered by Danfoss, will provide the opportunity for mechanical design engineers and contractors who are responsible for designing systems to benefit from two workshops, each lasting 40 minutes, covering the heating and cooling aspects of variable flow heating systems.
Variable flow systems are installed as a method of increasing energy efficiency of heating and cooling systems and should also help increase the lifespan of the systems that are installed. There is also increased value for money for customers because the pumps and amount of pipework required to install the system will be less expensive than alternative types of system.
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An investigation into fire safety will be conducted by the London Assembly Planning and Housing Committee to assess whether the measures in place concerning timber framed and tall buildings, which are becoming ever popular construction features in new built properties, are adequate.
The review of fire safety comes following multiple fires within timber framed properties owned by Greenacre Homes. Greenacre Homes Ltd work with local housing associations and on developments that are publicly funded to build public sector housing developments. There have recently been two instances of fires that have swept through Greenacre Homes sites, one in November last year which resulted in 10 people suffering injuries at a site in Peckham made up of a block of flats, and a further incident at the start of January in Camberwell Station Road.
The second fire affected a five-storey building that was being constructed, damaging 75% of the building. Following the blaze, there were calls from fire chiefs for stricter measures to be put in place, and the review that the London Assembly Planning and Housing Committee will undertake will focus on timber framed residential properties rather than commercial properties.
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