Homes built from recycled waste could help Britain reduce its huge rubbish mountain, as long as builders and architects are prepared to turn away from traditional bricks and mortar. That's the view of a leading UK recycling and waste management company, which is of the opinion that Britain's household and commercial waste contains enough raw materials to keep the trade in work for years to come. The BusinessWaste.co.uk Company says that with the trend for alternative build ‘eco homes’, more builders should look into using non-traditional materials for construction projects. "This isn't just some Grand Designs idea," said BusinessWaste.co.uk spokesperson Mark Hall. "Britain genuinely throws away millions of tons of waste that could find its way into the building trade if recycled correctly." 6 NEWS Veka UK launches industry’s first notified energy rating calculator The Veka UK Group has announced the industry's only BSI notified and BFRC certified window and door energy performance calculator. Principal engineer, Tim Williams, has unveiled the calculator, which is said to be the only one in the industry capable of providing accurate SELs, DSELs in accordance with the BFRC, and notified ‘U’ values for CE marking in accordance with EN 14351. The calculator, available free of charge, is reportedly unique to each fabricator and its products. Tim, who has worked at Veka for 22 years, sits on the BPF Windows group committee, the BFRC simulators group and ACDM technical committee. He said: “As of 1 September 2014, changes in BFRC rules, brought about by updated European standards, meant that all previous energy rating calculators immediately became invalid. This affects all sorts of things down the chain, including CE marking. “Many people are burying their heads in the sand, but CE marking is a legal requirement for windows and doors and making false declarations about ‘U’ values may lead to prosecution for fraud! I would estimate that currently, less than 40% of the industry is fully covered by every aspect of CE marking. “Our new calculator is now the only 'intelligent’ one in the industry. It is the culmination of more than a year's work, to ensure that when the September changes were introduced, our customers would have the tools to stay on the right side of the law. “The new calculator has been officially notified by the BSI for CE marking and we've designed it to provide CE marking ‘U’ values in accordance with BS EN 14351 for all A Christmas gift for MADi Profine UK, which represents the KBE and Kömmerling brands in the UK, has presented the new industry pay to play charity, MADi Fundraising, with a donation of £3,000. MADi Fundraising was launched at the FIT Show gala dinner in 2014 with a sponsored casino, the promise of a wide range of events and 100% of the proceeds going to children’s charities – this year being the Anthony Nolan Trust. The first big event will be the inaugural MADi Ball Rally from Brand’s Hatch to Café de Paris in Monaco, in 2015. Gareth Mobley, co-founder of MADi Fundraising, said: “This was a surprising and incredibly generous donation from Profine UK. The interest and support in the charity has been immense from day one and with our MADi Ball Rally already sold out, we look forward to adding further events in the coming 12 months.” Stefan Seidel, MD of profine UK, concluded: “It’s important for us as a business to support worthy causes and MADi Fundraising has already become www.ggp.com January 2015 a fundamental part of the industry. We’ve had an incredible year and it’s been great to hand a little back to such a worthy cause.” www.madifundraising.com Future homes could be rubbish SEHBAC wins NHIC award the major Veka UK Group products, and all the variations thereof. “The system is bespoke to each fabricator or installer and personalised depending on which Veka or Halo systems they use. The resulting energy certificate can be given to the homeowner as independent proof of a product’s thermal performance. “Extremely simple to use, the system allows one form to be filled in via numerous drop down boxes that allow fabricators to try all the available configurations, with different glass, spacer bars etc. It is impossible to get a 'wrong' result as only compatible parts will be listed for each system. It is the only calculator that carries out all the necessary energy rating and ‘U’ value calculations from scratch, enabling many permutations of profiles, reinforcement, spacer bars and glass to be used. For example, it can resolve tens of millions of ways to make a Matrix 70 casement window, covering 28mm double glazing, as well as 36mm, 40mm and 44mm triple glazing. “Customers could even potentially save money on the cost of manufacturing their standard 'A' rated windows by trying a different variety of cost-effective components that still result in the 'A' they require. “We have designed the calculator to be 'future proof' – for example, if the Building Regs go from 1.6 down to 1.4. Gareth Mobley, Stefan Seidel Essex based installer, SEHBAC, won the award for ‘Best Home Improvement Glazing Project’ at the National Home Improvement Awards (NHIC) in London, recently. According to NHIC judges, SEHBEC won the award for a glazed extension that showed ‘great attention to detail from design through to delivery’ with an ‘exceptional’ use of glass as a material. The project also ‘superbly’ highlighted the use of state of the art glass products in doors, windows and rooflights. John Savage, SEHBAC managing director, said: “We’re delighted to have won this award and proud that our work has been recognised. It demonstrates that our approach is class-leading. The awards event was a tremendous opportunity to rub shoulders with other home improvement companies that share our passion.”
GGP January 2015
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