Posted July 31, 2000
Financial
close on Glasgow schools PFI 
The preferred bidder chosen to modernise Glasgow's secondary school estate
has reached financial close on the £1.2bn contract, the largest
education PFI project to date.
Stockley and Eurica in FM joint venture
Facilities management company Eurica, a subsidiary of Interior Services
Group, has formed a joint venture with the developers of the leading business
park, Stockley Park Consortium
Peregrine
alliance enables lifecycle asset management
Peregrine Systems Inc. has announced a strategic alliance and equity investment
with ZoneTrader.com
Posted July 28, 2000
Trammell
Crow Savills – it's official
A new European outsourcing company, created from FM company Trigon and
the European Corporate Services team of FPDSavills with the backing of
US giant the Trammell Crow Company, is formally launched on Tuesday.
Dramatic increase in teleworking
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that numbers
of teleworkers in the UK have increased by 19% over last year.
Nortel
outsources to PwC?
Nortel Networks is to outsource its European administrative support to
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Posted July 27, 2000
Health
union seeks legal advice on staff transfer
The union representing non–clinical workers in Derby's hospitals
is taking legal advice to prevent staff being transferred to a private
firm as part of the PFI deal for a new hospital.
OGC vision strategy a welcome challenge, says
BSA
The Business Services Association (BSA) welcomes the challenge to new
methods of procurement outlined in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
vision statement.
European
hi-tech FM skills shortage?
Increased use of the internet to move and share multimedia information
is driving the rapid growth in demand for broadband communications across
Europe.
Posted July 26, 2000
PwC consortium
wins Australian government property contract
A consortium headed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers has won an 88m Aus$ (£34.2m)
contract to manage the Australian Government's 2.5bln Aus$ (£971m)
non-defence property portfolio,
Internet signatures become legal
As of yesterday an electronic signature is legally admissible as evidence
in court in the same way as a hand-written signature, making the UK one
of the first countries in the world to introduce such legislation.
New
OCS Group website
As part of its 100th anniversary, the OCS Group has relaunched its website,
www.ocs-group.com, to "reflect the strong family involvement in its
continued success and its expanding global presence."
Posted July 25, 2000
More competition
in electricity connections
Energy regulator Ofgem announced plans to open up the market for electricity
connections yesterday.
Workplace safety figures improve
The Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) latest workplace safety statistics
show a downward trend in both numbers and the incidence rate of injuries
to workers in the year to 31 March 2000.
Florence
joins Healey & Baker as change agent
As reported previously on i-FM, Healey & Baker is expanding its asset
service activities in Europe
Posted July 24, 2000
European
Commission refers UK public procurement violations to Court
The European Commission has decided to refer the United Kingdom to the
European Court of Justice in three separate cases involving infringement
of Internal Market rules.
Carrier hotel opens in Dublin
uropean internet infrastructure and services provider TeleCity has opened
Ireland's first world-class internet data centre or 'carrier hotel' facility
in the Citywest Digital Park on the western edge of Dublin.
Erotic
gherkin given go-ahead
Sir Norman Fosters office tower for reinsurance company Swiss Re, better
known as the erotic gherkin, has been given the go-ahead by the Corporation
of London's Court of Common Council.
Posted July 21, 2000
New design
guide makes office accessible for all
Making the work environment safe, comfortable and attractive is an important
focus for many companies, but the needs of disabled employees are often
overlooked.
Space planning meets the net
A new venture offers space planning expertise via the web. Adrian McNeece,
former Director of Strategic Space Planning at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects,
has launched Thinkplan.com as an alternative to conventional fee based
consultancy.
MacDonald
Dettwiler to deliver land ownership database
MacDonald Dettwiler says it has been selected by Local Government Information
House (LGIH), on behalf of a partnership between Her Majesty's Land Registry
and Improvement and Development Agency (IdeA) representing Local Government
Posted July 20, 2000
Abbey
National to sell portfolio but FM not part of deal
Abbey National has confirmed that it is negotiating the sale of its entire
property portfolio to a third party
Select wins a further contract with BBC Wales
Select Facilities Services' contract with BBC Wales has been extended
for a further ten years.
WSP
Comms offers life-cycle approach
WSP Communications will offer a turnkey service for high-tech facilities
such as internet data centres.
Posted July 19, 2000
Pickard
moves to Citex
Martin Pickard, previously Head of Property and Business Services for
Cellnet (and i-FM columnist) has been appointed as Managing Director of
Property and Facilities at Citex Group.
US furniture portal selects sourcing partner
Web furniture market place GotOffice.com has chosen SynQuest One2One Solutions
to help marketplace participants evaluate all sourcing options for sales
opportunities
Piano
to design London Bridge tower
Renzo Piano, the Italian architect, is to design the largest skyscraper
in Europe for a site near London Bridge in central London. He has been
brought in by the developer Sellar Property.
ISS enters Argentina
ISS enters Argentina by acquiring two sister service companies, Marubia
SA and Marubia Sudamericana SA, both centrally located in Buenos Aires.
Posted July 18, 2000
MITIE
delivers
The good news continues at building support services company MITIE which
reported pre-tax profits up 32% to £19.2m
New e-business alliance establishes e-procurement
platform
CB Richard Ellis, Jones Lang LaSalle and Trammell Crow have formed a commercial
real estate e-business alliance.
British
workers splash out on lunch
The amount British workers spend on their lunch has rocketed over the
past decade, according to a new study - the "Eurest Lunchtime Report".
British workers now splash out an average of £1.98 on lunch a day
Posted July 17, 2000
Cushman
& Wakefield will launch e-real estate in Europe
As reported on i-FM last month Healey & Baker is set for a major initiative
in facilities management across Europe.
CAA announces airport charges shake-up
Plans for a new pricing structure to cover major UK airports have been
announced by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
New
initiative launched to improve urban design skills
Key professional institutions have agreed to establish a working party
to consider how to train a new generation of urban designers.
Posted July 14, 2000
Tilbury
Douglas and Caxton FM in Welsh PFI partnership
Tilbury Douglas Construction and Caxton FM have signed a contract for
the first Welsh General Hospital to be built under the Private Finance
Initiative.
Occupier stream at real estate conference
The interest of property professionals in the needs of occupiers continues
to gather pace.
UK
bosses hardest workers in Europe
The UK's business chiefs are among the hardest working in Europe
Posted July 13, 2000
News Extra B&P
signs £10m PFI hospital FM deal
Building & Property Group has signed a contract with the University College
London Hospitals NHS Trust as part of the winning consortium selected
to design, finance, build and operate the new £225 million single site
UCLH hospital in central London.
San Franciso tops US office rental league
At $69/sq ft, San Francisco heads the table of rental rates for Class
A space in North American Central Business Districts published as part
of ONCOR International's Mid-Year2000 North American Office Market Report.
Building
work starts on London hospital
Building work is about to begin on a £50m PFI development at Kings
College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London.
Posted July 12, 2000
OFTEL sets date for unbundling local loop
OFTEL yesterday set the date by which BT must begin to allow other operators
access to its exchanges.
New
PFI projects for Jarvis
Jarvis has in recent months signed six new PFI projects worth, in whole
life terms, £230m.
Workplace law web site
Asset Information, publisher of the monthly journal Facilities Management
Legal Update, a news partner to i-FM, has launched a new legal web site
for facilities managers.
Posted July 11, 2000
Sustainable development at heart of £7.5m
research programme
Construction Minister Nick Raynsford has launched a new £7.5m collaborative
construction industry research programme, with sustainable development
the overarching theme.
Landmark
judgement for workplace services 
The provision of workplace services has been shaken up by a landmark judgment
in the High Court.
BAE Systems to create internet based HR company
The outsourcing of business support services continues, with the additional
impetus of e-commerce.
Posted July 10, 2000
WSP acquires Flack + Kurtz and launches comms
company
WSP Group plc announced on Friday that it has acquired building services
engineering consultants Flack + Kurtz Group, for $26.65 million (approx
£17.76m)
Cost-cutting
deal for on-site energy
Try Construction is set to reduce its onsite energy costs and shake up
the construction industry’s supply chain management for power to
sites in a deal with London Electricity.
Bright start for Star City
Europe's biggest leisure and entertainment centre, Star City in Birmingham,
has been successfully completed by its main contractor, Carillion.
Posted July 7, 2000
New chairman for the Workplace
Network
Ed Costelloe, Head of Professional Property Services at BT Property, has
been appointed Chairman of the Workplace Network (TWN), the international
network of senior executives which focuses on strategic and management
issues in property.
Organic
food in the workplace
Charlton House Catering Services claims to be the first contract caterer
in the UK to introduce a range of organic food to the workplace.
US FM title in e-commerce partnership
US FM magazine Facilities Design & Management has signed a content
deal with an e-commerce web start-up bidding for the lucrative Government
procurement market.
Posted July 6, 2000
GVA Grimley manages Temple Quay
GVA Grimley has been appointed by the South West RDA to carry out the
estate management of its 23 acre Temple Quay development.
BRE
publishes construction research data on the net
BRE has published the results of its research into sustainable construction
issues. The data will only be available on the internet, making it the
first BRE report to be published exclusively in electronic format.
Savills reports profits up 31%
Property services group Savills reported pre-tax profit up 31% at £20.2m
(1999 - £15.4m) for the year to 30th April 2000, on turnover of
£141.9m, up 39%.
Posted July 5, 2000
Security biggest obstacle to
e-procurement, says PWC
Concerns over security of trading partners are the biggest obstacles to
the expected growth in business-to-business (b2b) e-procurement over the
internet, according to a survey of business leaders in four European countries
commissioned by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Fatal
fibres
The UK may have banned new uses of white asbestos last year, but there
is still a huge legacy of the fatal fibre in workplaces across the country,
says the TUC which published a new guide for union safety reps yesterday.
Revolutionary firm advocates
liberation from corporate grind
A US public relations and marketing consulting firm chose Independence
Day to issue advice on how professionals can declare independence and
enjoy the freedoms of the virtual workplace.
Posted July 4, 2000
BT's Environmental Report published
only on the internet
BT has published its Environmental Performance Report, highlighting areas
of its business which affect the environment such as energy use, waste
management and transport.
NAO
highlights lessons of PFI refinancing
The National Office has said that if the private sector seeks to improve
its returns by renegotiating parts of a PFI contract, it is reasonable
for departments to seek a share of the benefits.
Balfour Beatty to buy Integral
Technologies
Balfour Beatty, the construction and engineering group, is to acquire
Integral Technologies for $50m.
Posted July 3, 2000
Five on BBC property partner
list
The BBC hosted a 'bidders conference' for the five consortia on its long-list
for the huge property partnership opportunity.
Servus sets out e-vision
for FM
"I don't think it will be long before you can commoditise support
services. Services in FM are as near as you can get to commodities."
Landlords open up broadband
A consortium of major property owners has been formed to provide tenants
with access to high-tech telecommunications services.