A Bradford contractor  has been fined for safety breaches after labourers were exposed to asbestos after removing false ceiling tiles during a shop conversion in Hull.

Beverley Magistrates’ Court heard that the company had not commissioned a refurbishment asbestos survey prior to the work commencing.

Employees removed over 1000 m2 of asbestos insulation board ceiling tiles in an uncontrolled manner, exposing them to asbestos.

An investigation by the HSE found that the company’s director, and the casual labourers they employed, spent approximately three to four weeks removing the suspended ceiling, along with the ceiling tiles which contained asbestos, to install new stud walls to divide the shop floor into separate units.

The labourers were unskilled and untrained. They were provided with a claw hammer to knock the tiles down. The asbestos-containing tile debris was then shovelled or collected into approximately 62 one tonne bags.

MS Properties (Northern) Limited of Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching asbestos regulation and was fined £16,000 ordered to pay £3,011.87 in costs and a victim surcharge of £190.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Trisha Elvy said” If the company had identified any asbestos on the site through a refurbishment asbestos survey, carried out by a competent surveyor, and had it removed by licenced asbestos removal contractors prior to the refurbishment work commencing, then MS Properties (Northern) employees would not have been exposed to asbestos.

“No matter how small or large your company, there is a need to prevent exposing your employees and the public to asbestos by ensuring that it is identified on site prior to any work commencing.”

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Forty of the world’s leading cement and concrete manufacturers today join forces to accelerate the shift to greener concrete by pledging to cut CO2 emissions by a further 25% by 2030.

The world’s most used human-made material accounts for 7% of total global CO2 emissions and is a pivotal material in the response to the climate emergency.

The cement producers target marks the biggest global commitment by an industry to net zero so far – bringing together companies from the Americas, Africa, Asia, including India and China, and Europe.

The firms have affirmed their commitment to net zero concrete by 2050 and agreed to a more ambitious intermediate goal of preventing 5 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030.

This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions of almost 15 billion flights from Paris to New York.

The roadmap to get there is built around a seven-point plan that seeks to cut the amount of CO2intensive clinker in cement, significantly reduce fossil fuel use in manufacturing, and accelerate innovation in products, process efficiency and breakthrough technologies including carbon capture.

Cement industry net-zero plan

The Global Cement and Concrete Association has also called on governments, designers and contractors to play their part by assembling the right public policies and investments to support the global scale transition of the industry.

These include greater development of critical technologies such as carbon capture and storage, and reforms to public works procurement policy to encourage the use of low-carbon cement and concrete products.

Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive, said: “We now need governments around the world to work with us and use their huge procurement power to advocate for low carbon concrete in their infrastructure and housing needs.

“We require their support to change regulation that limits the use of recycled materials and impedes the transition to a low carbon and circular economy.”

The association counts companies such as CEMEX, CNBM, CRH, HeidelbergCement, Holcim and Votorantim as members.

Click for cement and concrete roadmap to net zero.

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Sellafield’s project delivery team has fired the starting gun on race to find two key delivery partners for a combined concrete structures, groundworks and blockwork package worth £1bn over 18 years.

The tender is the largest to hit the market from a new pioneering procurement model that uses Project 13-style integrated collaborative teams.

The big procurement shake-up is being delivered the Programme and Project Partners (PPP) that are driving forward the clean-up of the Sellafield site in West Cumbria.

This overarching integrated team is made up of a Kellogg Brown and Root (Integration Partner); Jacobs (Design and Engineering Partner); Morgan Sindall Infrastructure (Civils Construction Management Partner) and Doosan Babcock (Process Construction Management Partner), and Sellafield.

Under the new multi project procurement process, key delivery partners will be appointed by the PPP team to carry out the main elements of construction works across the programme.

Contests are already underway for sheet piling partners and building interior fit-out and finishes.

PPP anticipates that two KDPs will be appointed for the concrete structures, groundworks and blockwork package.

Tenderers will be required to set out a predetermined supply chain for the work they will deliver and requiring just over a third to comprise of SMEs.

As part of the process, PPP has enlisted the Swimming with the Big Fish SME Matchmaker Service tobroker and develop relationships between those bidding for KDP packages and high performing SMEs able and willing to invest in West Cumbria.

This introduction service is being delivered by quantity surveying and procurement specialists Solomons Europe.

Successful KDPs will be expected to help PPP meet its five ‘Critical Success Factors’, which include cost savings on project baselines, certainty of delivery and rewarding supply chains that achieve agreed outcomes.

Emphasis is also placed on local employment and upskilling the local workforce, along with financial and social investment in West Cumbria.

A full strategy paper outlining the procurement approach, commercial model, timeline, and other important information will be made available to businesses who register their interest by 12pm on Thursday, October 14 by email.