DIEM Ltd

The RICS APC (Assessment of Professional Competency) pathway guide for Quantity Surveying describes the discipline as:

 

Quantity surveyors are the cost managers of construction. They are initially involved with the capital expenditure phase of a building or facility, which is the feasibility, design and construction phases, but they can also be involved with the extension, refurbishment, maintenance and demolition of a facility.

 

They must understand all aspects of construction over the whole life of a building or facility. They must have the ability to manage cost effectively, equating quality and value with individual client needs.

 

 

Looking at the term “cost”, QSs hold the key not just to costing financially, but in terms of waste quantities and diverting this from landfill plus more critical, carbon accounting right through projects from design and construction to long term maintenance and eventual disposal.  The information QSs hold is invaluable for analysing material, including waste, quantities and carbon.

 

From a Chartered Environmental Surveyor who interprets and manages carbon, waste and materials data for environmental and sustainability reporting, my advice to trainee QSs is embrace the wider sustainability applications which you skills can unlock and you’ll be the stars of the future.

Green Drinks Lancashire returns!

Friday 25th May 2012 

Green Deal is coming and whether you are basing your business plans on it or not, it won’t go away.

I’ve recently, in conjunction with Martin Brown of Fairsnape via the Lancashire Construction Best Practice Club have given several talks to construciton professionals about Green Deal and the PAS 2030 standard.

Construction profesisonals I’ve been talking who are interested in PAS 2030 and Green Deal are preparing to modify their existing practices for them or develop new ones, but I’d say start testing the systems now.

The mindset for Green Deal for installers is to deliver everything PAS 2030 asks for so why not start testing the standard on current projects.

There is professional help from Martin Brown & myself to assist and whilst there are off the shelf software products available, bespoke professional advice is far more beneficial and economic. With some parties saying one to one professional business support is unaffordable, I’d like to say that DIEM Ltd offers affordable professional services which can be tailored to resources available at clients and also existing systems as not to duplicate work.

Heard that the EA are giving free construction carbon calculator training. My response is “why”. The calulator is self explanatory and time would be better spent with clients engaging with their supply chains to what benefits it the calculator going to give.

I went to such a supply chain event recently with a client and a main contractor was totally honest in saying carbon was going to win & lose them contracts and their supply chain can help and also reap the rewards in work.

Whilst the EA have been really helpful recently, their staff potentially travelling around delivering seminars reminds me on the waste of money when WRAP delivered halving waste to landfill sessions at 5 star hotels (the buffet was good) and the terrible SWMP workshops years ago.

Its time for public money to be saved and private sector supply chains work together in upskilling staff in carbon calculators as throwing money at it doesnt have commercial sence in still a struggling economy.

David Inman MRICS CEnv of @DIEMLtd gives a brief introduction to PAS 2030:2012 at the launch of the @LCBPC Green Deal Club. Link to video is below:

New video of Martin Brown @fairsnape launching the @LCBPC Green Deal Club in Preston, February 2012. Link to video is below:

 

After attending yesterday’s excellent Lancashire Construction Best Practice Club Green Deal Consortium Club launch in Preston, I’m delighted to see DIEM Ltd mentioned in Industry today.

A link to the article by Katie Brown of SMPR is at:

http://www.industrytoday.co.uk/green_deal_industry_today/green-deal-consortia-launch/10239

The event left me with a sence of optimism about the willingness of local firms to explore ways of working together.

The impending Green Deal is really whipping some people up into a frenzy, but I’ve been here before.  Without naming names and these people should have had some professional responsibility, many years ago I attended a Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) and Home Information Packs (HIPs) briefing where these persons were saying you could earn £150 per energy assessment and do up to 8 a day.

I knew at the time that these fees were way off the mark and qualified as a DEA expecting a sensible rate, in line with other work I do. Well, lots of people were whipped into a frenzy and bitterly disappointed when there was little work, which was down to the housing market’s problems and the disgraceful management of and dithering with the scheme of the last government.  People got trained, then it was delayed by the politicians, but wages needed to be paid. In the meantime, until some more stringent quality approval arrangement were brought in, which actually penalises the ones who do things properly, there were people doing a DEA for as low as £30 (minus about £7 lodgement fee for the report, travel etc which doesn’t leave much profit) and stories about people doing them over the telephone and Google maps.

That wasn’t meant to be a rant, but set the scene to where we are today with Green Deal.  As someone thinking of applying to be a assessor, it’s difficult to write a business plan as nobody knows how much certificaiton will cost, or will the market be swamped by people looking for a fast profit, or assessments being done as a loss leader, making the small firm or sole practictioner be cast adrift.

I was very pleased that RICS addressed some key problems of impartiality of assessors and other factors in their consultation response to DECC (available from www.rics.org and a very good read), but it is an unknown and people do feel slightly lost.

Yes there are Green Deal web domains registered, but the quality of content varies greatly and some could be deemed to lack transparancy on some websites in terms of ownership and professional standards. 

I’m most encouraged about an initiative launching locally to me in the North West by Lancashire Construction Best Practice Club who are looking at setting up a Green Deal Club which will bring interested parties together at UCLan in Preston on 22 February 2012. More details can be found at:

http://greendealclublcbpc.eventbrite.com

I’m very enthusiatic about this Green Deal Club as it’s not suggesting any immediate answers, but are going to address the unknowns and the solutions as they happen in an open, balanced and honest environment.

The only certainty the club is offering is that Green Deal will happen and Construction organisations wanting to become involved in this, and maybe other eco refurbishment schemes, will need accredited certification to PAS 2030, which the club will be looking into giving support.

So, there are more questions than answers with Green Deal, but I’m convinced that we can seek the answers more effectively working together rathern than in isolation.