Case studies

Life safety industry "must try harder"

Some 95% of life safety installers think that the industry isn't doing enough to provide training for the next generation of professionals, according to new research from Hochiki Europe.

With recent figures from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) suggesting that the shortage of electricians, such as life safety installers, is at its highest level for four years, the skills gap is a pressing issue across the built environment, posing a risk to the industry's future growth.

The study of European fire safety and emergency lighting installers carried out by the leading life safety system manufacturer, found that only two fifths (39%) of respondents work for a company that offers an apprenticeship programme. Just 17% reported that their employer offers a graduate programme to attract university leavers to the industry.

Speaking about the findings, Ray Turner, general manager - operations at Hochiki Europe, commented: "The skills gap both in our own sector and across the built environment has been a pressing concern for a number of years but, as the survey shows, our industry is doing too little to address the issue.
"If the industry is to continue to grow into the future, it is imperative that manufacturers and installers create the training opportunities necessary to equip the next generation with the skills they need to build a fulfilling career as life safety professionals."

Another major cause for concern for installers that was highlighted in the study was the lack of enthusiasm among school leavers for the life safety sector as a potential career avenue.

Four fifths (78%) of respondents felt that young people don't know what jobs are available in the life safety sector. A further two thirds (68%) worried that young people don't view the industry as an employment option. Some 93% said that the sector had a responsibility to educate secondary school pupils on the range of life safety roles available to combat this issue.

Ray Turner concluded: "At the same time as creating great apprenticeship and graduate programmes to attract people to the sector, we need to do more to reach out to students while they are still at school and thinking about their future careers, and highlight the benefits of working in the industry.

"Working closely with schools and universities - as individual companies and in partnership with others in the industry - will be crucial to help promote the array of career options, and the paths into the sector. Taking this kind of action now, we can ensure we have the expertise we need not just to thrive today, but to face new challenges tomorrow."

Clive Couldwell, the editor of AV Magazine, talks in AV Magazine about the AV effect.

He states that, "without AV there wouldn't be multi video displays for real time content sharing and collaboration; 'global' corporate presentations; video capture and on demand video playback; 4K presentation and distribution; presentation and collaborations, as our Market Analysis on workspaces reveals."

He comments that, "thanks to AV, spaces are changing from dedicated to multi-purpose, with flexible working and learning environments now becoming the norm. Multifaceted AV technology supports flexible spaces that can be used in many ways. What was once just a boardroom may now operate as a boardroom, conferencing room, or overspill office."

"AV is a tech business and has achieved amazing things, as our AV Awards show each year. But technology is merely a tool in the hands of those with the imagination to inspire."

Clive closes by saying, "At a time when fresh approaches to spaces are needed more than ever, it's time to step up and open up our minds to new ideas.

Here at SER you are the key - the all important factor that allows us to be successful. Without you we don't have a business.

So why pick Quantum Physics – well we have picked it as a reminder that recruitment isn't a quantum physic, but it can change people's lives and here at SER we never forget that.

Recruitment doesn't have to be confusing and it doesn't have to be a maze. We can help make the process easier for you.

Each day we aim to engage and interact with people in a way that allows us to make a difference to their lives.

If you are standing at the start of the maze, and you are struggling to find your way through, get in touch with us today.

Tel: 01254781300
Web: www.serlimited.com

Your Career, Your Future,
Your Choice.

In the Modern Building Supplies magazine, June issue, there is an article that looks at gauging the trends in the UK air-conditioning market.

The article outlines that it is the rise and fall of projects nearing completion that causes the rise and fall of building-services products.

The market in 2016 was quite variable, as summarised below:
• Office new-build sector was down, especially in the key London market.
• Completions in the retail new-build sector were also lower than expected.
• Office refurbishment held up and saw the same level of completions by value compared with 2015 throughout the UK and the key London market.
• Hotel new build and refurbishment increased by completions.
• The residential tall-towers sector in London saw an increase in the number of buildings completed.

In 2015, the market performed as expected.
For completions in 2016, the situation changed as tenant demand decreased (1) for office new build, caused by global economic trends and then Brexit. Plus availability of stock increased, which was caused by the high number of new starts by floor space in 2013 and 2014.

All of this was happening against the backdrop of business-rates increases in 2017. Developers did not want to complete jobs, as they only get three months' business rate relief for a vacant property, so practical completion dates were pushed back (2). The trend is that the construction cycle is extending. Retail new build saw the same trend.
So the expected rise in completions in new build in new build in 2016 did not happen.

Read the full article here: http://www.modbs.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/16987/Gauging_trends_in_the_UK__air-conditioning_market.html 

In 2016, the European pro AV market was worth $42 billion, according to a new InfoComm International study.

This is a drop of 4% from 2015, says HIS Markit, the analyst firm InfoComm hired to conduct the research.

The study predicts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% through 2022, which is approximately an additional $10 billion in revenue.

Contraction finally gives way to growth

What's changed since the 2014? A lot, starting with the recession's effect on spending.
"In 2016, industry value contracted in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Western Europe," the report says. "Relative to the industry's 2014 value, Central, Eastern and Western European revenues shrunk by 7%, 7% and 4% CAGR, respectively.

"Scandinavia is the only European sub-region to have grown from 2015 to 2016. Scandinavia's monetary independence, coupled with its intrinsic propensity to adopt new technologies, largely explains the sub-region's ability to buck neighbouring, contractionary trends."

The report predicts that through 2022, the rest of the European sub-regions all will resume growing. Although Western Europe will continue to drive about 70% of the region's proAV market, its CAGR through 2022 will be 3%. By comparison, Central and Eastern European AV revenues will have respective CAGRs of 7% and 9% through 2022.

A variety of factors are driving those numbers. Besides general economic trends, there are also industry-specific ones. For example, declining flat panel prices are helping grow the digital signage market.

"So we have a relatively bright outlook," Tom Morrod, the HIS vice president overseeing the reports, told InAVate.

Flat panel segment grows at projections expense

"The single largest technology evolution is coming from the replacement of projectors by professional-grade flat-panel displays," the report says. "Between 2014 and 2017, while the video displays market grew by 26%, the video projector market lost 40% of its value. The loss of $3 billion in projector sales was only offset by a gain of nearly $800 million in display sales."

The sector is still bottoming out, but there's light at the end of the tunnel because display sales continue to boom.

"We're going to start seeing a lot more displays in a lot more places because the price point can drop so much lower than the projection price point," Morrod says. "Projection will become very niche."
Services opportunity remains strong.

Services are another opportunity, with the report predicting compound annual growth of more than 4%.

"Through 2022, we anticipate that lighting systems will grow by 24% on average, year on year, driven largely by installations in retail, consumer high-end systems based around smart home and more complex systems in education and care environments," the report says.

Continued demand for energy efficiency and the rise of smart buildings will spur a lot of that growth.
"There's very, very significant investment that will run at least through our forecast period," Morrod says.

The rest of the report can be seen in the June copy of the InAVate magazine – the rest of the report outlines other areas of industry growth and where the growth is coming from.

P is for People

SER operate in a line of business where people really are key, whether that be our clients, our candidates or our consultants.
We are going to break this down into those 3 people in our process and explain why we are different.

Candidates

As a candidate you have a choice so why choose us?

We all know that finding the right job can be at best – time consuming but at worst stressful and incredibly demotivating. Trawling through a list of jobs and getting no replies can often seem like a complete waste of time.

How about we flip it on its head, change the system and update the process so you no longer have to spend hours of your time seeing no results.

It becomes our job to do that for you through our consultants – they will take the time to understand you, what makes you different and what you want to do and then find you something that is just right, and we do this at no cost to you.

Clients

We build up a lasting professional relationship with our clients, we understand the type of people they want to work at their companies and we help them find it.

Recruitment truly is a partnership and it is our consultants who link that partnership together.

SER & Clients partnership + SER & Candidates partnership = Client & Candidates Partnerships

If you would like SER to help you find the right job or people for the job submit your CV or register a vacancy.

Your Career, Your Future,
Your Choice.

Opportunities can come along at any time, and this is the chance to progress from where you are now to where you want to be and maybe you don't even know where that is now.

You could be happy in your job and not looking at progressing anywhere, but there is a chance you have become comfortable in your current situation – and we know it is easy to do.

Although opportunities can appear at any time, it doesn't mean they appear everyday so you need to take the opportunities or at the very least, consider the opportunities when they arrive.
Remember that every conversation is worth having – you don't know who you are speaking to, and what they know about opportunities that could be right for you.

"It's being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of your opportunities." Lee Majors

Submit your CV today, and let SER present you with the opportunities that could be right for you.

Help us to help someone you know, if you know someone who may be interested in one of our roles, refer them to us – we have a referral scheme in place – read about it here: http://www.serlimited.com/referrals-rewards/candidates/referral-awards 

At the beginning of June's issue of MBS magazine, the editor Ken Sharpe discusses the performance gap.

He says, "the competence of building-services engineers in delivering buildings with an actual energy consumption that bears any relationship at all to the predicted energy consumption was recently thrown into focus by a widely reported study from the University of Bath about the 'performance gap.'
It is widely known that the actual energy use of a building can be 200 to 450% greater than predicted by building modelling.

The study by the University of bath suggests that many non-domestic buildings in the UK often use 'twice as much energy and emit twice as much carbon dioxide as the professionals who designed them predicted.' The study also observes, 'this massive under-estimation of how much energy a building will use is a problem because the UK's buildings account for nearly 50% of the nations greenhouse-gas emissions.'

The basis of a research project by the Building research establishment is that the reasons for the performance gap are generally unknown.

The overall performance gap has two components – the compliance gap and the actual performance gap. The compliance gap is estimated to be 50 to 70% of the overall gap and can be solved by more realistic modelling to more closely reflect the conditions in operation.

The larger actual performance gap is more of a mystery, with much speculation and hypothesis, but little speculation and hard evidence – which is why BRE has proposed a research project.

Read the latest magazine here: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=01365b0a-a1e3-4a10-b1e1-820709396eb8

In a recent sector wide survey, 'Building engineering business survey' sponsored by Scolmore, it's reported that almost 80% of engineering services firms have reported an increase or steady turnover during the first quarter of this year.

The survey has been run in partnership with BESA (Building Engineering Service Association), the ECA (Electrical Contractors' Association) and SELECT (Scottish electrical trade body).

The survey received 370 responses from companies all across the services sector and was completed in early to mid April.

BESA chief executive Paul McLaughlin said, 'We should be extremely heartened by these results. We continue to live through a period of unprecedented political upheaval, yet the building-engineering-services sector remains on track. For nine out of 10 respondents to be so upbeat about their immediate business prospects in the current uncertain economic climate is testimony to this industry's resilience.'

ECA CEO Steve Bratt commented, 'These figures show that the engineering-services sector continues to power ahead, against a backdrop of enormous political volatility. New business opportunities continue to be created across our sector, notably, but certainly not exclusively, linked to energy supply and storage. We remain cautiously optimistic entering into a period of further change with the upcoming general election.'

SELECT managing director Newell McGuiness added, 'It's encouraging to see continued optimism on workload, given the backdrop of uncertainty which exists at present. The rise in material costs is a concern and we hope that any further increases will be kept to a minimum.'

http://www.modbs.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/17002/Engineering-services_market_survey_shows_continued_optimism_for_the_sector.html 

By Kevin Cox, Managing Director, Energys Group

Installing LED's into a company is well known to improve the energy efficiency of the organisation, but did you know it can also make staff feel more comfortable.

LED Lights often have controls which make it possible to adjust the lights to suit the seasons. This can improve an employees concentration, can contribute to a happier environment and it can result in more productive staff.

The Carbon Trust advises lighting typically consumes 20% of the electricity used in commercial and industrial buildings, offices included.

'In these times of high energy prices, finding cost-effective ways to reduce levels of electricity consumed by lighting can deliver appreciable long-term reductions on business electricity bills,' it argues.
LED lighting is quick, easy to install, pays back fast, and creates minimal installation disruption. But when considering LED upgrades, it's vitally important to also think about it will affect staff wellbeing. Here are some of the top elements to consider.

Health issues associated with glare
'Bright lights and glare, especially if flickering, can induce migraines,' writes the NHS. 'This is because bright and flickering lights boost the levels of certain chemicals in the brain, which then activate the migraine centre.'
Modern LEDs eliminate the problem of flicker traditionally found in fluorescents, but some LED products are prone to glare. This can be a big problem in offices, especially as most activity is confined to looking at PC screens.

LED product quality can vary widely, so it's important to specify LEDs with a 'low glare index'; this means that light is spread evenly over a large surface area.

Giving staff control over their lighting will also help: by allowing them to turn the lighting up, down or off in their workspace and providing desk lamps to use as a substitute for overhead lighting.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) cites a recent study by neuroscientists, which suggests office workers with windows received 173% more white light exposure during work hours, and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night.

'Light is also vital for maintaining our circadian rhythm. Overall, the evidence is unequivocal; office occupants prefer access to windows and daylight, which bring consistent benefits in terms of satisfaction and health,' says UKGBC.

While the facts point towards the benefits of natural light, artificial light has a crucial role to play in keeping up light levels on cloudy days and when daylight hours are short.

Daylight harvesting products (such as our Ultra Slim Panel Light with iDim Active+) provide an efficient solution: they automatically respond to the level of natural light in the room and turn the artificial lighting up, down or off accordingly.

The end game; more productive, healthier light
When firms think about how to save energy in offices, all too often the human benefits become swamped by concerns on payback or ROI. But a happier employee represents not only a vital part of today's humanistic business, but a more profitable worker too.

For these reasons, developing LED solutions as part of strategic options to bring comfort and humanity into every office must be the watchword for 2017.