Recycling Delivers the Difference at Donaldson
A bespoke waste management and recycling solution, designed by ACM Waste Management Plc, has delivered significant improvements to environmental performance, health and safety and operational efficiency at Donaldson, Hull.
The company, a global leader in filtration technology, previously sent most of its waste to landfill but now almost 85% is recycled with an ambitious objective of achieving a 95% recycling level already in place.
ACM has installed a range of waste management and recycling equipment as well as helping Donaldson with the design and layout of a specific area of the yard, which is set aside for this purpose. Waste Management Consultant, Dave Webster, said: “For Donaldson it was important that the solution we provided could help them fulfil a number of key objectives.
“It is about much more than just disposing of waste. Donaldson as an organisation is very committed to environmental issues as well as excellent health and safety, thus creating a clean, efficient and pleasant workplace for its employees.
“We have worked very closely with the Donaldson team over a number of months to ensure that the system is fully operational and working properly and we are delighted with the results.”
Equipment currently in use at Donaldson includes a fully automatic baler, a mill size baler, roll packer, crusher and a series of colour coded bins to allow segregation of waste within the factory. Cardboard, polythene, filter media paper, wood, hard plastics, reject filter elements and metals are all now being recycled. ACM has also arranged collection of all items which come under the WEEE Directive and also hazardous waste collections.
Ian Metcalfe, Donaldson’s QSE Manager, commented: “The difference that the new waste management solution has made has been tremendous. In the past, the bulk of our waste went to landfill but now we are confident of achieving our target of 95% recycling. The waste management programme fully complemented our ISO-certified quality, environmental and H&S systems.”
The ACM complete waste management and recycling solution has also delivered significant cost savings, which are expected to increase year on year and dramatically reduce CO2 emissions associated with vehicle movements for waste collection
Marc Deschilder, Donaldson’s Plant Manager, added: “This is a very important step forward for Donaldson, because it is what we are all about. Protecting the environment and continually improving the health and safety situation in our operations are part of the core aspects of our business so managing our waste efficiently goes along way to helping us achieve excellence in these areas.
“For example, in the area of health and safety, we are looking to achieve zero accidents and the reduced waste collections and associated vehicle movements have made our Hull site a much safer workplace.”
For more information call: 0844 884 4191, email green@acmplc.com or visit www.acmplc.com.
From left to right: Alan Bayston, Marc Deschilder, Dave Webster (ACM) Norman Wilkinson (On Fork Truck) Ian Metcalfe & Ian Miller

Bbi’s record year looks set to continue!
One of the UK’s leading facilities support specialists, Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi), which has a branch in Gloucester, has continued its strong pattern of growth with a record turnover in excess of £17m being recorded at the end of their 2007/2008 financial year.
Although the current economic climate is having a negative impact on many businesses, Bbi is not yet feeling any repercussions having secured large contracts with a number of high-profile national and international companies, including the Office for National Statistics and a multi-million pound contract with SunGard Availability Services.
In the first month of trading in its new financial year (June 08), Bbi has also reported group sales in excess of £3.5 million.
The company has put this increase in sales down to a high level sales strategy of differentiation of brand, product, service and personnel that distinguishes Bbi from its competitors.
Andy Graham, Bbi group chairman, said, “This has been another successful year for Bbi and PJE and the group continues to move from strength-to-strength.
“During the final quarter of the financial year we have secured a number of new high-profile clients and further enhanced our relationships with suppliers. Our appointment as accredited dealers for Steelcase, the industry leader in furniture manufacture, is a significant accolade for the business.
“We are committed to building market share and developing brand recognition, and our reputation for offering the highest levels of customer service and quality has ensured continued profitable growth of the business.”
Bbi now employs 65 people across its three offices in Brecon, Leeds and Gloucester, and has diversified from its origins as an interior design and fit-out company into an organisation aiming to service all of the facilities support needs of organisations, including health and safety consultancy advice and mechanical and electrical design and fit-out.
Graham adds: “We have identified a clearly defined market place concentrating on corporate businesses across the UK. We have strong working relationships with a number of blue chip companies. Continued relationship building will allow Bbi to continue to expand and deliver high-quality services, while continuing to improve and broaden core services.”

Kenburn Offers Short-Term Rental of Baling Equipment
Kenburn Waste Management Ltd is now offering short-term rental of Bramidan vertical baling machines to help companies cope with temporary increases in the volume of cardboard and plastic waste. The rental scheme also allows customers considering baling as part of their waste management programme, to carry out trials before committing to capital expenditure. The service is available throughout the UK and there is no minimum rental period.
Key account manager Martin Slough explained why Kenburn was willing to offer short-term rental when most suppliers are reluctant to do so. “There are lots of companies that need extra baling capacity for short periods, sometimes due to seasonal fluctuations in their business, and we wanted to offer a solution to the problem. For example, one of our customers supplies salads to some of the large supermarket chains and is very busy during the height of the summer. That means disposing of a lot more plastic wrapping and cardboard during June, July and August and having an extra baler on site makes a big difference. It just wouldn’t make sense to have two machines there permanently as demand falls off sharply during the winter.”
“Because Kenburn’s been in the waste management business for a long time we have a very large number of machines out there in the field. Perhaps not surprisingly we’re very keen on re-cycling and we refurbish used equipment in our own workshops and return them to service. They offer customers a cheaper alternative to buying new equipment and they’re ideal for both long and short-term rental.”
Weekly rental charges are from £27 including on-site maintenance; there are additional charges for delivery and installation depending on the model of machine and the delivery location.
Baling provides a convenient method of disposing of recyclable materials such as plastic and cardboard by reducing collection costs, reducing storage space and minimising the risk of fire.
Kenburn is the UK Distributor for the Bramidan range of vertical balers which suit industries with lower volume baling requirements, including multi-site retail, catering and medical applications. It is also the UK Distributor for the Avermann range of horizontal balers for use in the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) and Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) sectors, as well as supplying Avermann and Bergmann waste compaction equipment to users across the United Kingdom.
Business enquiries: Martin Slough, Kenburn waste Management Ltd, Tel. 01727 844988, email. martin.slough@kenburn.co.uk, web. www.kenburn.co.uk

Siemens lands major systems scheme design contract at Heathrow’s new passenger terminal
Airport owner BAA has agreed a £3.6million contract with Siemens Building Technologies to design the entire information and communications system for the planned new Eastern Terminal at Heathrow.
Heathrow Eastern Terminal will replace Terminal 2 and the Queen’s Building and will be used by the Star Alliance, the global group of more than 20 airlines.
Siemens, as Master Systems Integrator (MSI), is responsible for the end-to-end delivery, from concept design to operational readiness of the Information and Control Systems (ICS) portfolio. This will integrate the various systems for building management, security, fire communication, flight information and airport operations.
Heathrow Eastern Terminal is designed to handle approximately 20 million passengers a year and will take around four years to finish. The systems design will enable every organisation based there to communicate effectively and meet the overall objective of enabling passengers to move swiftly and efficiently through the terminal.
The project is led by Siemens Building Technologies Security Systems in the UK with support from the Siemens global centre of excellence for command and control security projects in Athens. This group has already had extensive experience in the area of integrated communications with large-scale projects such as the Athens Olympics, the Asian Games and Bangalore and Bangkok airports. Contract negotiation included BAA representatives visiting some of these projects.
Siemens Building Technologies, Security Systems managing director Peter Hawksworth says: “BAA wasn’t looking for just a contractor but a partner who can handle the technologies and resources for a project of this scale. The experience that Siemens has in similar size projects around the world reassured BAA that they have a safe pair of hands to deliver in these very important areas such as security, fire and information management.
A BAA spokesperson says: “Siemens Security Systems stood out as the organisation with the ideas, resources and experience to provide the best systems available for the operational needs of the new terminal. We very much look forward to working with them.”
The Eastern Terminal building was designed by top architect Norman Foster with Hoare Lea as the M&E consultant. Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke will act jointly as complex building integrators.
Further information: Katy Tong, Siemens Building Technologies Security Systems, T 01932 898500, E katy.tong@siemens.com, www.buildingtechnologies.siemens.co.uk/securitysolutions

Amey awarded south east TechMAC contract
Amey has been awarded the Highways Agency’s South East TechMAC. The 5-year project, with a value of over £20m, is expected to commence work on 29th Sept 2008.
Within the contract Amey will partner with the Highways Agency to provide the design, management and maintenance services of the technology assets on the Highway Agency’s network in the South East of England. The technology assets include emergency telephones, MIDAS, CCTV, message signs and signals, ramp metering equipment, and for the first time in a TechMAC, traffic signals.
As well as undertaking the maintenance and repair of the technology, Amey will identify ways to improve the performance of the network to help the Highways Agency to deliver its objectives. In this way, Amey will adopt a ‘virtual ownership’ approach in developing and managing the assets to ensure their health over the life of the contract.
The contract will use a combination of Amey’s consulting and operational capability. It focuses on delivering the design, asset management and development aspects of the contract and managing the effective delivery of resources needed to manage the assets over the full extent of the network.

Bbi expands its Leeds Office
Office interiors specialists, Beacons Business Interiors, (Bbi) has expanded its Leeds team with the appointment of a new account manager.
Carol Benbow, 38, joins the team to develop the organisation’s public sector business while ensuring Bbi continues to deliver a high quality of service to its existing clients. She will be one of a team of ten multi-disciplinary professionals working out of the Leeds office.
Carol brings over 21 years public sector experience to her role, the last eight years of which was as a senior executive officer for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Southport. Throughout her time in the civil service, she has achieved numerous industry accreditations, including becoming a British Standard Institute internal auditor.
She is currently studying for a degree in Business Management with the Open University and is a member of the British Institute of Facilities Management.
Carol has a wide range of experience within the facilities management arena. Her main specialisms are within project management, customer services and direct management.
Carol says: “I’m extremely excited to be working for Bbi. During my time as a property manager for a large government department, I used Bbi as the contractor for all my refurbishments and fit out requirements and I liked them so much, I came to work for them!
“Bbi is a forward-thinking company with many high-profile clients and I’m looking forward to playing an integral role in growing Bbi’s public sector contracts even further.”
Bbi, based in Leeds, Gloucester and Brecon, provides office interior design, mechanical and electrical design, project management, internal construction and office furniture to more than 500 clients across the UK. They already work with a number of public sector organisations including the Office for National Statistics, the Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Defence.
Peter Burchill, director of the Dewsbury office, said: “Carol is a bit of a gamekeeper turned poacher! Having previously hired companies such as Bbi while working for Government departments, she now will be targeting public sector organisations to use Bbi for their requirements!
“Carol’s appointment is a significant step forward in broadening the capacity of the Leeds office. Her skills and expertise will be an invaluable asset, in particular for the public sector market and the team looks forward to working alongside Carol and learning from her wealth of experience.”
BBI is a multi-disciplined company offering a comprehensive range of facilities support services including account management, interior design and space planning, mechanical and electrical design, project management, internal construction, office furniture, corporate signage and consultancy services.
For more information, visit www.bbi-uk.com or call 01874 623089.

Decentralized energy supply
Systems offering a need-driven decentralized energy supply add an important contribution to the challenges of energy use and energy production. The concepts and advancements in this area help increase the contribution of renewable energy sources as part of the total energy supply.
The presentation of the current state of development nationally and internationally serves to help present the chances of this strategy and inspire new projects. For this reason, a congress dealing with “need-driven decentralized energy supplies” will be initiated by REECO GmbH in cooperation with FEE e.V. on Oct. 9th, 2008 as part of the RENEXPO® International Trade Fair for Regenerative Energy and Efficient Construction and Renovation, from Oct. 9th-12th, 2008 in Augsburg, Germany.
During the conference, strategic and commercial aspects of implementing systems of need-driven decentralized energy supplies are to be examined with selected national and international examples.
Following the basic needs of energy conscious building design, examples are to be presented of implemented or planned concepts in building complexes, city planning and current research in the area of need-based decentralized energy supply.
The congress will conclude with the presentation of concepts such as bioenergy in the distribution network, decentralized energy supply and the regenerative combined power plant as well as modern processes of energy conversion such as bioheating in Dillingen, biomass gasification and processes of decentralized fuel production from renewable sources.
Renown speakers in the areas of science and research as well as numerous practical reports of well-known companies, project developers and facility operators will guarantee a highly informative event. The congress is supported and inspired by WADE World Alliance for Decentralized Energy.

ENER-G acquires second Hungarian enterprise
Sustainable energy technology company ENER-G plc has acquired a second Hungarian business for an undisclosed sum.
ENER-G has taken a 100% stake in Budapest’s Kipszer Klima Controll, a supplier of air-conditioning, heating and specialist clean air technology systems to a broad customer base in central and northern Europe, including the Hungarian Parliament building, Egis, GSK, Richter Gedeon, Zoltech and Tungsram GE.
The company specialises in creating ‘pure space’ environments for clean room applications such as hospital operating theatres, laboratories, pharmaceutical facilities and micro-electronic assembly areas.
Greater Manchester-based ENER-G has a turnover of more than £70m and employs 650 people in the UK and overseas. The group provides renewable and energy efficient power generation and management to a global customer base – providing end-to-end business solutions.
ENER-G already owns Hungarian cogeneration company ENER-G Energia Technológia Zrt, which was acquired in 2006, and the enlarged group will benefit from synergies between the two Hungarian enterprises.
The acquisition of Klima Controll brings ENER-G’s major transactions to four in ten months, following its purchase in October 2007 of utilities services company CMR Consultants; energy metering and control business Switch2 in December; and renewable, geothermal heating and cooling specialists Ground Source Solutions in April 2008.
Klima Controll was acquired from the family of Imre Koszta, who will continue to run the business together with Zoltan Ballago as Project Director and Zsolt Racz as Service Manager. ENER-G group managing director Derek Duffill, together with Peter Szabo and Balazs Marialigeti of ENER-G Energia Technológia, will join the Klima Controll board.
Commenting on the transaction, Derek Duffill said: “Klima Controll's strong technical skills and comprehensive turnkey solutions will deliver powerful synergies as a result of operating alongside ENER-G. This is a key acquisition for us in an increasingly important European region and I am confident that it will drive further growth.”
Imre Koszta added: “I look forward to working together in what promises to be an exciting and profitable venture. Klima Controll is a skilled, experienced and well-resourced operation. This gives us the ability to expand across central Europe and beyond – providing an enhanced portfolio of technologies and services to increase our share of the international energy, heating and cooling market.”
Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors, a Central European M&A advisory firm, acted for Klima Controll.

Monitor Staff Movements and Human Resource Information conveniently from Net2 Timeline
The latest version of the Net2 software from Paxton Access includes Net2 Timeline, a graphical display that shows human resource and access event information in ‘real time.’ Net2 controls who has access to your building and at what time, whilst recording each access event in the Net2 event log.
The Timeline application takes data from the event log and Net2 Timesheet and converts it into a ‘digestible’ format that can be used to conveniently view access events, plan staff holidays and monitor absenteeism.
Staff activities ‘fall’ into a number of colour coded categories and provide managers and human resources (HR) personnel with a clear overview of events. Trends for individuals, departments and whole organisations can be seen at a glance.
Adam Stroud, Sales and Marketing Director for Paxton Access explains, “We wanted the application to be as simple as possible to use. Because all or a number of categories can be viewed at any one time an administrator can either focus on a particular criterion or get a general ‘overview’ of events. The ability to ‘drag’ the page left/right, up and down freely to view specific days is exceptionally efficient. Once found a day can be viewed in more detail by ‘zooming’ in on it using the scroll (mouse) wheel.”
This stretches it out and divides it firstly by hours and then into minutes to reveal detailed event information in ‘real time’. Adam continues, “Net2 Timeline crams pages and pages of data onto a clear accessible display providing administrators with convenient answers to access event and HR questions!”
www.paxton-access.co.uk

RICS Wales’ performance counts
Avid recycling, car sharing schemes and volunteering has won the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Wales an award.
The Welsh team were praised for their efforts at the national RICS Performance Counts Awards for making a recognisable contribution to being a responsible business. It is the first time that one of the national awards has been bestowed on a regional team, and RICS Wales are delighted to win the title for the first time.
RICS Wales not only recycle all their paper, plastic, tins and bottles, but their efforts go much further. RICS Wales also has a car sharing scheme, encourages volunteering and saves energy. Unwanted paper and reports are donated to a nursery to use for drawing and painting on.
Any surplus IT equipment is not sent to landfill, but goes to the Computers in the Community Recycling in South Wales who refurbish computers and recycle hardware and RICS Wales also recycle their Inkjet cartridges.
RICS Wales beat off competitors from teams across the UK and picked up their award for running effective operations at a staff-wide ceremony in Windsor. A panel of senior staff used a range of performance measurements including staff and member survey results, performance reports and votes, to determine the shortlist and winner for each award category.
Commenting on RICS Wales entry, category judge Philip Tarris, Director of Corporate Management for RICS, said: “Recycling, car sharing, volunteering and saving energy - this team are fanatical.”
The Award was received by RICS Wales Regional Manager Kathryn Cook on behalf of Team Wales.
She said: “Being the first regional team to win this award is quite a coup. We have all worked tirelessly to make sure that where we can do things in a green way, we do.
“We’ve all heard of the term Corporate Responsibility, and at RICS Wales we think it’s really important to be a responsible business and a responsible employer. We try and conduct our business in an ethical way”.

Yorpower Awarded Prestigious Supply Contract for Major US Bank
Yorkshire-headquartered Generator supplier Yorpower Manufacturing Limited has been awarded a turnkey contract for a 1.5 Megawatt installation in Manchester.
The scope of supply includes two sound and weatherproof containerized generators, a static load bank, 14,000 litre fuel tank and complete control system. The complete installation is required on the 13 th floor of a new office building in Manchester, part of the Spinningfields redevelopment in the City Centre. The installation itself will be complex, requiring a 500 ton mobile crane for lifting the generators, as well as road closure co-ordination.
The award follows the successful supply and installation of two generators for another UK bank in the same development earlier this year.
The project is due for completion in Autumn 2008.
Yorpower Manufacturing Limited has grown to be one of the most recognized and successful suppliers of power generation equipment in the world.

Q2 2008 Member business trends survey: Summary of key findings
David Pollock, Chief Executive Officer, ECA
"The results of the latest ECA member business survey reflect concerns felt by many during this period of economic uncertainty. While some members are still optimistic, we have seen business flatten or decline for others.
"However, it's not all doom and gloom; it is important to note that the industry has enjoyed a long period of growth over the last 15 years and opportunities do still exist. With new technologies constantly evolving, now may be the time to think about diversifying into specialist areas.
"My advice to those concerned about the current economic climate would be to take a look at costs within their business and remember that turnover is vanity, profit is sanity and cashflow is king."
* Overall, in the second quarter of 2008, (Q2 2008), the proportion of members reporting a decrease in turnover rose substantially, relative to the first quarter of 2008, while the proportion reporting an increase fell.
- As a result, the balance (a measure of change) dropped considerably compared to the previous quarter with 16% more respondents to the Q2 survey forecasting a decrease in turnover rather than an increase. This follows a similar drop reported in the previous survey.
- Companies in the Midlands, the West and in Greater London reported the greatest decrease in turnover compared to the previous quarter, while there was little change in the South East and the North.
- Small and Medium sized companies experienced the greatest drop with more Large companies reporting an increase rather than a decrease in turnover for the current quarter.
- Overall, 44% of comments - unrelated to the survey itself - were concerned with the fall in business. This compares with 28% such comments in the previous survey and only 8% in Q4 2007.
* Expectations for the third quarter of 2008, (Q3 2008) are much more pessimistic than were predicted for Q2 2008, with a balance of 19% of companies expecting a decrease in turnover in the next quarter.
- In all categories of company, both by size and area, more companies are expecting a similar decrease in turnover in the next quarter, rather than an increase.
- The exception is companies in Greater London, which are not expecting a further fall.
- Small and Medium sized companies were more pessimistic than Large and Very Large Companies.
- From the balance of turnover expected in the next 12 months, all areas are pessimistic with the Midlands and the West being the gloomiest.
* Historically, feedback from the quarterly surveys between 2004 and 2007 show fairly constant expectations for growth for the following 12 months, with about 20% more companies anticipating an increase in turnover rather than a decrease. However, this changed in Q1 2008, when the level of optimism fell dramatically with more companies expecting a drop in turnover rather than a rise. In the current survey the balance has dropped even further with 48% of companies expecting a drop in turnover and only 17% expecting an increase.
· Previous surveys show that larger companies tend to be more optimistic than smaller ones. The same is true in the Q2 2008 survey with the Large and Very Large companies expressing the least pessimism, though the balance for them is now down to -20%. The Small and Medium companies, with a negative balance of -40%, are even more pessimistic about the next 12 months than they were in the previous survey.

Behaviour-Based approaches can improve firms’ safety performance
Implementing behaviour-based safety (BBS) programmes within firms will discourage unsafe actions amongst staff and improve safety performance within businesses, says Norwich Union Risk Services (NURS), part of Aviva.
According to the Health & Safety Executive, employee behaviour, either things staff do or fail to do, is a contributory factor in approximately 80% of accidents in the workplace.
Helen Toll, health and safety consultant for NURS, said: “There is significant evidence to demonstrate that BBS can lead to a reduction in accident rates, by as much as 85%, if implemented effectively.
With the recent introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007, businesses are increasingly looking to enhance their health and safety management practices to protect staff and avoid the risk of prosecution.
According to Toll, one way that businesses can do this is by identifying behaviours that contribute to accidents.
BBS is appropriate for businesses that already have good health and safety practices in place. However, it should not be used as a starting point for those without any measures in place at all, as research has shown that such programmes will only be effective in organisations that have reached a degree of safety culture maturity.
“If a company has an effective strategy but perhaps health and safety performance has reached a plateau, BBS programmes, such as the one developed by NURS, are a useful, proactive tool that can enhance safety in the workplace even further,” said Toll.
“The way this approach works is by focusing on the small percentage of unsafe actions that are responsible for a large part of the organisation’s accidents.
“A team of ‘observers’ from the workforce are trained to carry out regular safety observations, identifying and giving positive feedback when they see safe behaviours.
“When risky behaviours are spotted, the observers seek to understand why their colleague chose to behave in an unsafe manner and identify any potential barriers that need to be removed. Workplace improvements can then be made to create an environment that encourages workers to always choose a safe option.
”Some examples that organisations may focus on include wearing protective clothing or using protective equipment, reporting near misses or hazards around the workplace, lifting correctly and safely isolating machinery before cleaning.
”In addition to the core benefit of decreasing workplace accidents, firms can improve their public image and industry reputation. As well as staff development, as participants often build up improved communication skills and confidence as a result of their participation.
”For businesses that want to go that extra mile to ensure the workplace is as safe as possible for employees, this is a useful tool.”
For more information on the programme offered by NURS visit www.nurs.co.uk