黑洞社区

Recession confession

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) last week announced it has put up the benchmark build costs it鈥檚 willing to pay contractors on its major frameworks by 5% in response to the growing price inflation in construction. Obviously for an agency charged with driving through significant cost reductions in its construction spend, and victim of continued government spending austerity, this isn鈥檛 entirely good news. So Mike Green, the EFA鈥檚 director of capital, was understandably ambivalent about the end of a recession that has been so damaging for the industry. With a wry grin, he told a breakfast meeting of education contractors and consultants that the EFA was alert to the price hikes being seen in construction. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always alive to this kind of thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 guess we should be really happy that the recession is over. I personally could have done with it lasting a couple more years.鈥�

Going green

Many of the industry鈥檚 education directors were present and correct at the VIP reception for charity the Transformation Trust following its Rock Assembly at Wembley Arena last week - an annual event where pupils from schools across the country are treated to performances from some of the younger generation鈥檚 most popular singers and bands. It seems several of those education heads, however, revelling in their 鈥渕iddle youth鈥�, turned up slightly early in order to sneak into the back and catch the headliner, Professor Green. Whether or not all of them actually knew they were arriving to see the rap artist, rather than their main client, the Education Funding Agency鈥檚 capital director Mike Green, has not been established.

Positive workforce

News emerged last week of dozens of workers failing the stringent drinks and drugs testing taking place on Vinci-owned Taylor Woodrow鈥檚 Nottingham Tramlink project. According to the local media, 48 workers have tested positive for alcohol or drugs on the project being built by Taylor Woodrow and Alstom after strict toxicity tests were introduced, prompting headlines about 鈥渂oozy builders鈥�. A spokesperson for Vinci did not say how many workers had failed the tests, but said: 鈥淭he tests are extremely sensitive - well below drink driving levels - and anyone testing negative is removed from site for safety reasons. 鈥淎 significant proportion of the failures were in pre-start tests so that the individuals concerned were not permitted to start work on the site.鈥�

Just cricket

The Greater Manchester Construction Summit last week at the stunning Old Trafford cricket ground was a well-attended affair, with the leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese and his keynote speech on the region鈥檚 construction market proving a draw for delegates. He opened with a gambit on his own recent experiences of the construction sector, as he鈥檇 had the builders in to do some work on his house. 鈥淢y most recent experience was very very good,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey were on time and on budget.鈥� No doubt being leader of the city council and one of the most powerful people in the region helps get good results.