Wellesley has been appointed by St Mary’s University in Twickenham to provide a comprehensive interior design programme that will see us undertake preliminary designs for the internal refurbishment of residential accommodation, project management and quantity surveying services.

We are delighted to be working with the University under our Framework Agreement.

LEGAL UPDATE

We have been instructed to advise a leading Contractor involved with a tender that they are doing for the Crossrail Project.

ARCHITECTURAL UPDATE

Loughton Baptist Church
Practical completion was certified just before Christmas for the new build Manse (Vicarage) for the Loughton Baptist Church. The new build Manse is a detached four bedroom contemporary style dwelling situated in the grounds of the Church.

Salvation Army, Romford
We are well underway regarding the refurbishment of the welfare facilities for The Salvation Army, Romford. Completion is expected at the end of January.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Gateway Academy School
Wellesley have been appointed to Tender the Planned Maintenance Programme for Gateway Academy School, in Central London.

Wellesley first put the plan in place in 2013 for 2 years, which was extended with the successful Contractor by negotiation for a further year. The plan is based on the SFG20 model and has proven to be very successful.
Other works at the Academy this summer will include remodelling of some offices and the replacement of the playground and associated drainage.
If you are worried about budgets, compliance and value for money regarding Maintenance works, then please contact Alanbarclay@wellesley.uk.com, tel: 07879 405303, to discuss how to put a fit for purpose value regime in place.
Works include all statutory requirements for Mechanical, Electrical and building fabric as well as general needs such as roof works, grounds works, decorations etc.

It is normal practice for a business to carry out financial checks on customers where they are extending credit terms or committing resources to a contract, but how seriously do participants in a construction contract take the risks of failure in their supply chain?

For larger contractors or subcontractors a performance bond or Parent Company Guarantee may be requested, but these are not always sufficient to cover the risk and may involve a lengthy and difficult process to recover the losses incurred, by which time recovery may be irrelevant.

The failure (usually insolvency) of a Main Contractor can cause very serious time and money issues for an Employer particularly if the timing is at the height of construction activity &/or where design is involved.

Equally the failure of a key subcontractor can have dire consequences for a Main Contractor and so it goes for Subcontractors and their sub-subcontractors.

A key subcontractor is not necessarily one with a high value order, it may be a specialist or involve the design and installation of some discreet but critical element of the project. This is where a Contractor may be most exposed. On a small high risk package a 10% bond is not relevant & does not give the contractor any protection at all.

What then should an Employer, Contractor or Subcontractor do to try to protect themselves from the risk of supply chain failure?

Firstly it is important to understand that risk is a reality and it is not possible to completely avoid it as 3rd parties are inevitably involved in all projects.

However getting close and staying close to key supply chain partners and being aware of potential issues developing can significantly reduce the risks. Managing work load, preparing contingency arrangements and reducing the impact on your project of a sudden business failure should the worst happen.

At Wellesley we have been helping Employers, Contractors and Subcontractors to manage the risk in their supply chain over the last 6 years.

The assistance we have provided includes carrying out individual commercial reviews of key supply chain partners. This would involve meeting with the Directors of the supplier to understand their business it’s strengths & weaknesses, order book, risks, its own supply chain and any other relevant issues. In our experience suppliers are happy to have the opportunity to explain their business to their customers. We conduct on-going and periodic checks including further meetings with the supplier to maintain a close contact. We have helped organisations set up their own supply chain review process which allows them to manage the risk as part of their internal processes.

If you would like to find out more about how Wellesley can help you to manage and reduce supply chain risk in your business please contract John Harwood at johnharwood@wellesely.uk.com

Westminster City Council

We have just been appointed Architects and QS by Westminster City Council for the refurbishment of a vacant two storey premises in Marylebone. The building, when completed, will serve as a Community Centre and Nursery. This will be the third nursery project we have been involved with under Westminster City Council.

Again, for Westminster City Council, we have just completed the second phase of refurbishment at Essendine Primary School in Maida Vale. The project was completed on time and within budget. The works included the refurbishment of classrooms and toilets and a new two year old nursery provision.

St Mary’s Church, Loughton

We are acting as Architect and QS on a new build community building for St Mary’s Church in Loughton. The construction value is approximately £1 million. Tenders will be sent out in January 2016 and works are due to start on site in April.

Pre-applications in Essex

Various projects are at pre-application stage including a development of nine flats in Waltham Abbey, Essex and an extension to a Gospel Hall in Romford, Essex.

Wellesley managed the installation of over 4000 LED light fittings for the University of East London at their Docklands Campus; these replaced existing older more inefficient lights.

The project was conceived by UEL’s Sustainability department, who secured a grant from a Government led funding initiative.

The scheme is known as Salix – Solving Energy Efficiency Finance in the Public Sector.

UEL received £485,000.

Why LED lights (Light-emitting Diodes)?

The introduction of LED lighting is set to improve the lit environment and help save the worlds valuable energy sources.

Light affects our well-being more than you may realise. It commands our body clock, regulating our sleep-wake cycle, immune responses, appetite and many more behaviours. Next to this, light has acute effects on mood, alertness and attention, all essential to the learning environment.

LED lighting is brighter and slightly ‘bluer’ on the colour spectrum, which affects the body’s hormone release. Blue light inhibits melatonin release which is the hormone in charge of making you feel tired. When this is inhibited we feel more alert, active and it gives us an overall sense of well-being LED also offers 50% energy saving on average, vastly reducing the energy consumption on campus. To put this saving into perspective, the current phase of LED lighting, some 4000 fittings, has saved enough energy to light 200 homes or 600 flats for a whole year! (Based on figures from the Department of Energy & Climate Change: Energy Consumption in the UK (2015).

Add on to this the reduction in Carbon emissions by 400 tonnes, which is the equivalent to flying 200 people around the world 4 times over (based on figures from carbonindependent.org).

The brilliance and benefits of LED have been recently recognised with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to inventor of the blue LED chip, Shuji Nakamura of the University of California ‘for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources’

Staff and students were welcomed back to a brighter more energy efficient Campus after their summer recess.

Acknowledgements of the project team:-