British manufacturer of bi-folding doors and windows, Origin, has launched an online quoting and ordering system to help trade partners to quote and order products from the company’s Origin Home range with ease, accuracy and efficiency. Origin’s Sale Safe (OSS) system, which is said to be the first system of its kind, was built in house to improve the ease …

Roger Bisby tries out O’Keeffes Working Hands Hand Cream. They used to say, back in the day, that when the revolution comes everyone will have to hold out their hands and those with soft hands will be put up against the wall and shot. A tad extreme, I grant you, but I always knew I would be safe from the …

A company based in Cardiff has been fined for safety failings during a property development which included breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Pontypridd Magistrates’ Court heard Ziman Trading Limited, formerly Ziman Investments Limited (Ziman), was acting as the principal contractor at the property development of the former New York Hotel, York Street, Porth. An investigation by the …

A Bracknell based roofer has been fined for safety failings after a complaint was made to the HSE regarding unsafe roof work. No-one was injured in the incident at Sabine Gates, Old Bracknell Lane, Bracknell on 27 August 2014, however members of the public were endangered by the potential for falling objects. Reading Magistrates’ Court heard that Terry Colwell trading …

The number of unannounced construction inspections being undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive continued to drop last year according to construction union UCATT. In 2015/16 there was a total of 9,219 inspections compared to 9,656 in 2014/15, a decrease of 4%. The number of construction inspections has been declining steadily in recent years with figures revealing that in three …

Growth in apprenticeship numbers in Scotland could be scuppered unless the Scottish Government commits to ring-fencing the new UK-wide Apprenticeship Levy for training.

BASE has extended its range of safety trainers with three new options, which the company says will make you feel like you are walking on air. Frisbee, Be-Shiny (pictured) and Colosseum join the existing Martin and Opera BASE trainer line-up, and have a lot in common in terms of comfort and style. Among the lightest safety trainers on the market, …

Roger Bisby spends a day out on site with James Gibbens inventor of Cladman. I had seen Cladman featured in Inventors Corner in an issue of Professional Builder and it whetted my appetite. I have done more than my fair share of cladding and weather boarding and for me it has always been a two man job. Nothing wrong with …

A new red brick colour has been created for the Saint-Gobain Weber External Wall Insulation (EWI) system chosen by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) for their property upgrade programme in the Dinnington area. The weber.therm XM EWI system, finished with weber.rend RB Render Brick in the new Georgian Red colour, has been created to accurately match the established red brick …

Stabila has launched a telescopic spirit level, the Telescopic 80T, which offers the right length of level for any job while saving space in the tool bag. With one spirit level to do the work of several, the Stabila Telescopic 80T can be easily extended to the length needed, doing the job of up to three fixed-length levels in one. …

A window fitting company has been fined for safety failings after a worker falls from building a total of three metres while installing glazed units.

Tradespeople and small contractors struggling with late payment issues should welcome changes to the speed of commercial insurance claims payments as part of the Enterprise Act according to ECIC, the specialist insurer for the construction sector. Unnecessary delays in claims payments should be a thing of the past, with the Enterprise Bill having now become law, giving the UK’s smaller …

Evo-Stik has added a Fire Retardant Gun Applied Expanding Foam Filler to its range of foams. Said to offer a more accurate and efficient application through the use of a gun, the fire retardant filler can be used for gap filling and insulating to prevent the transmission of smoke and is fire rated to the latest European standard DIN EN …

19/05/2016 A few years ago, while on a walk along the South Coast of England, I came across a place just outside Newhaven called Tide Mills. Unfortunately there is not an awful lot left to see because the British Army used it for target practice with artillery shells and they were a little too accurate. It might not have the …

I have written many articles on diamond blades over the years explaining how each type of blade works and the enduring message is that there is still no such thing as one blade that is optimised for all tasks.  As much as you might try we recognise that there is a lot of information to hold in your head when you go …

A Darlington man has been jailed for carrying out illegal gas work on three occasions. Teeside Magistrates’ Court heard Neil Simon McKimm (trading as Macs Plumbing Services) carried out gas work including servicing boilers. McKimm used the alias of a legitimate gas engineer to deceive his customers. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Neil McKimm …