Articles

Polypipe Building Services, the UK’s leading manufacturer of commercial drainage systems, has saved dozens of people in West Yorkshire from being moved into temporary accommodation.

 The Kent-based business enabled residents at Carr House, in Wakefield, to remain in their homes during a major social housing refurbishment project by recommending the use of its best-in-class component fabrication and live stack replacement service.

Polypipe was approached by housing association Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) to manufacture a solution to replace the 11-storey building’s “aged and blocked” cast iron internal soil stacks.

WDH agreed to Polypipe Building Service’s live stack replacement solution to use 22 stacks of Terrain FUZE, manufactured offsite, as it would be easy-to-install and allowed the residents of Carr House to remain in their homes during the refurbishment work. 

Leading cold rollforming manufacturers, Hadley Group, will be bringing its expertise in light gauge steel solutions to stand C1 at the OFFSITE EXPO this year, as well as being a gold sponsor of the dynamic event.

Taking place on 24th – 25th September at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, Hadley Group will showcase its high-performance light gauge cold rolled steel framing solutions for low rise residential buildings. Suitable for stick built or pre-panelised construction, the company can complete load bearing stand-alone structures including roofs, walls, floors, door and window openings, bracing and external finishes.

Components of the steel framing systems are designed, detailed and manufactured at the company’s advanced production facility then delivered to site, which is ideal for housing schemes with high volume requirements and for projects where space is limited on site. Offering a lighter and easier to erect alternative to steel or concrete primary frames, this fast track, lightweight steel housing system will significantly improve build turnaround times.

Whatever your stance is on Brexit, immigration compounding the housing shortage was an important motivating factor that led many people to opt out of the EU. The subsequent uncertainty has resulted in many EU nationals leaving the UK; has that made the housing crisis any better? Or was decades of chronic under investment from all political parties (sadly still prevalent today) really to blame all along? Housing Association Magazine Editor Joe Bradbury investigates…

Way back in December 2012, Prime Minister Theresa May claimed in an evocative speech that over a third of all new housing demand in Britain was as a direct result of immigration: “There is evidence that without the demand caused by mass immigration, house prices could be 10% lower over a 20-year period,” she commented.

HAs dealing with tenants with problems sometimes face anger. One way of mitigating that is to make sure that HAs are able to solve tenant problems quickly. Joe Bradbury looks at how HAs can mitigate tenant anger with failing heating systems.

Glenn Foot from Eaton Security on ensuring your smart products are well-protected from cybersecurity threats…

The days when compact mobile devices were simply for making phone calls seem like ancient history. Even the most basic modern smartphone now offers always-on internet connectivity that enables users to control more and more aspects of their lives or work at the tap (or swipe) of a screen.

It means that from managing domestic or workplace heating through to lighting and other applications, there’s no end to the possibilities offered by smartphones and other tools such as tablets. It’s fast, accessible and increasingly easy-to-use technology that has a big appeal.

Joe Bradbury of Housing Association magazine discusses the importance of undertaking maintenance work to your heating systems throughout the summer months.

As we near the end of Spring, we need to be thinking about how to make the most of the lighter days and warmer weather that lie ahead of us. In this article, Joe Bradbury of Housing Association magazine discusses the importance of undertaking maintenance work to your heating systems throughout the summer months and how doing so will save you time, money and heartache in the long run.

Fiona Anthony is a solicitor at nplaw, a public sector shared legal service based in Norwich advising local government, public bodies and charitable institutions. Here, she advises a spring clean when it come to GDPR compliance…

My most memorable date of 2018 was 25^th May. It wasn’t a big birthday or an anniversary, a holiday or a celebration – the sad fact is that it was the day the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 came into effect. There had been a huge build-up to that point and, in the months beforehand, we had been preparing for the big day, delivering training sessions to packed rooms and checking policies, privacy notices and cookies (regrettably not the ones with chocolate chips in). There was plenty of concern about what the new regime would mean but very little reliable guidance.