Date: 27th October 2020

Climate Crisis Webinar Series

Coordinated Action Across Construction

Wednesday 25 November 2020 11:00am

The Central Scotland Branch of Women in Property is launching a trilogy of expert webinars on how to make a meaningful impact to carbon reduction in the built environment, from Structural Engineering, M&E and Contractor professionals.

The trilogy commences on 25th November, 11am with structural engineer Stephen Beggs, Technical Director at Curtins. He will discuss why we need to act, compare our personal and professional carbon impacts, demonstrate the tools Curtins has developed to measure carbon and set out 7 practical steps for reducing carbon impact.

Details of the future webinars in the series will be released by Women in Property in the coming weeks.

For more information and registration please visit the Women in Property website here.

Date: 20th August 2020

Curtins is appointed as leading consultancy on new Procure Partnerships Framework

We are proud to share the news of our appointment on the Procure Partnerships Framework Professional Services Agreement, having been selected as one the highest rated consultancies in all 11 regional framework lots. Successful in every bid, our appointment comprises Civil Engineering and Structural Engineering across all UK regions, and Principal Designer for the North West and London.  

Designed to simplify procurement in the public sector, the professional services framework sits alongside the recently launched Contractor Framework and will similarly provide clients with a compliant but flexible solution to their procurement needs. It will run from 2020-2024. 

The framework has been structured to provide public sector users with four OJEU and PCR15 call-off methods. These include two-stage mini competition, single stage tender, direct award and mini competition express.  

Curtins are now extremely well-placed to work with the appointed contractors as part of multi-disciplinary teams on behalf of the public sector client. 

Robbie Blackhurst, Framework Director comments: “We are delighted with the response we received for our Professional Services Agreement with over 420 individual companies applying for places across 11 regions. The standard of tenders was extremely high with is a credit in itself to the companies who were awarded places. We are delighted to have Curtins onboard who have a demonstrable track record of successfully delivering complex projects for the public sector across the UK.”  

Find out more about our other framework appointments here.

Date: 7th August 2020

Curtins Podium Live – Carbon: A New Currency for Construction

We are launching a new series of CPD webinars, commencing with Carbon: A New Currency for Construction on Thursday 3rd September, 11.oo-12.oopm. 

Technical Director, Stephen Beggs presents this live CPD webinar with Q&A on using carbon as a new currency in the construction industry, with 7 practical steps on how to achieve carbon reduction in building design.

On the topic of carbon as a new currency for construction, Stephen Beggs, Technical Director at Curtins, will discuss why we need to act, compare our personal and professional carbon impacts, demonstrate the tools Curtins has developed to measure carbon and set out practical steps for reducing our impacts.

During the 45-minute presentation, the notion of ‘carbon as a currency’ will be introduced and compared with our other currencies of cost, quality and time. The session closes by considering the resolutions we all need to make to accomplish real change.

Curtins’ series of Podium live webinars continue the culture founded by Bill Curtin of sharing expertise and prompting conversations in the construction industry.

Stephen Beggs has almost 30 years’ experience in the field of civil and structural engineering. He leads Curtins’ Bristol office and has spearheaded Curtins’ national initiative on carbon measurement and reduction.

The Podium will include a Q&A at the end. You will be able to submit your questions during the webinar through the chat box, or you can send them ahead of the event to events@curtins.com.

This webinar is the first in a series of CPDs that will also cover Managing Site Constraints through Technical Masterplanning, Curtins’ bespoke pre-planning service Foursite and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA).

Register for the event here.

Date: 7th August 2020

Curtins staff complete a Samarathon

Members of our team have been pounding the pavements by walking, running and moving their way to a total of 26.2miles last month; raising money, awareness and their spirits in aid of Samaritans.

Just a little bit of exercise every day has a positive effect on mental wellbeing, so we’ve been encouraging our staff to get active to help take care of their own mental health.

Samaritans is the Curtins Care nominated charity of the year. They provide 24/7 support to anyone in emotional distress or who is struggling to cope. At a time of impacting change, the covid-19 crisis is the biggest challenge Samaritans has ever faced. It is therefore more important than ever to support Samaritans so that they can continue to be there 24/7, 365 days a year for those who need them.

Together, our team have reached a total of 247miles and raised more than £560 for Samaritans, which will go towards funding over 100 calls.

For more information about the Samarathon, please visit https://samarathon.samaritans.org/about

Date: 28th July 2020

Curtins and CIRIA publication shortlisted for Brownfield Award

The Brownfield Awards 2020 shortlist has been announced and Curtins has been nominated for our work with CIRIA in preparing the CIRIA report C785 – Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Risk Management Guide for Land-based Projects. The work has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Scientific/Technical/Digital Advance’ category.

The publication provides advice and guidance on UXO risk management – one of the many hazards affecting land-based projects in the UK – and is intended for use by those who work takes them into the ground or requires them to assess UXO risk.

Matt Lomas, Head of Geo-environmental North at Curtins, comments, “the guidance was written to help those in the built environment navigate UXO risk, and we are delighted that the publication has been nominated for this prestigious award.”

The Brownfield Award winners, split over 14 categories, will be announced in a live virtual ceremony on 19 November 2020 as part of Brownfield Development Festival.

Date: 24th July 2020

Curtins launches STEM careers inspiration on website

We’re pleased to share news of our latest addition to our website – a new section aimed at providing careers inspiration for KS2 and 3+ pupils called Discover. We hope it will deliver insight into the roles our teams play with advice, blogs, videos, case studies and downloadable resources for parents and teachers.

The Discover careers pages have been launched in response to a realisation that not being able to visit schools and run STEM events, like we previously have done, could have an impact on how young people are inspired to become our team of the future.

We see the section as being a growing entity, and have plans to add additional content in the near future. For now, we hope the pages give a flavour of the wonderful world of construction and engineering in which we operate.

View the pages here.

Date: 14th July 2020

Suzanne Johnsen donates to Little Princess Trust

We would like to congratulate Graduate Engineer, Suzanne Johnsen for generously cutting and donating 35cm of her hair to the Little Princess Trust, and raising money at the same time.

Little Princess Trust provide real hair wigs for children and young people (up to 24 years) who have lost their hair due to a disease.

This is the second time Suzanne has donated her hair to the charity, and in doing so she has highlighted to us the difference a hair donation can make.

She comments, “I would like to challenge anyone who has not had a haircut due to the lockdown to please do not cut it – save it and make a donation.

“Hair is so important to making us feel ourselves, and a donation can make a child feel stronger, more self-confident and ready to battle whatever disease is mistreating them.”

As part of Curtins Care, our charity fundraising initiative, staff can apply for donations to be made to charities of their choice. Through this, we have donated £550 on Suzanne’s behalf to the Little Princess Trust, equivalent to the cost of making one wig for a child or young person.

For more information on donating your long, lockdown locks, please visit www.littleprincesses.org.uk/

Date: 7th July 2020

Curtins launches virtual student placements

Following the successful launch of Curtins Academy online, we are pleased to say we have extended our opportunities for digital learning and development to student placements, having recently enrolled a civil engineering university student in a bespoke, voluntary virtual programme.

Businesses, such as ourselves, have a responsibility to ensure that there are opportunities for the next generation of engineers to gain valuable working experience, even during a period of country-wide lockdown. Working collaboratively with Olivia Rosengarten, a third-year student at Heriot-Watt University, we have created a bespoke programme of work experience that will allow her to develop her own learning objectives whilst working from home.

Olivia has previously undertaken work experience with us from our London office, but this voluntary virtual placement is already proving to have advantages over the traditional format. Seminars with our senior team can now take place across the business. This has so far included a director from our Bristol office who specialises in sustainability, a specific area of interest for Olivia.

We will be sharing Olivia’s experiences over the coming weeks. Meanwhile, we are exploring the ways in which we can extend the voluntary virtual placement offer and apply best practice learning to future office-based placements too.

Date: 24th June 2020

Planning permission granted for Sale West Estate

Planning permission has been granted by Trafford Council for the Sale West Estate proposals, which will provide 79 quality family homes, car park improvements, safe play areas, improved highways and enhanced amenity spaces.

Outline planning has also been granted for a further 184 homes as part of a second phase of development, subject to a reserved matters application.

Through our bespoke Foursite pre-planning service, we have provided transport planning, infrastructure, geo-environmental and structural engineering services, which have assisted in achieving this planning milestone.

Working as one, our transport planning team prepared a Transport Assessment, Travel Plan and Construction Traffic Management Plan, whilst our infrastructure team delivered a Flood Risk & Drainage Strategy, and the S278 pack for the detailed phase of development. Geo-Environmental have been responsible for Phase 1 and Phase 2 Ground Investigation reports, and the structures team provided initial structural advice.

To fully identify and unlock any site constraints, we also appointed sub-consultants: Hoare Lea (for Air Quality and Noise Impact Assessments, and Carbon Budget Statement), Rachel Hacking Ecology (for Ecology and Green Infrastructure) and Tree Solutions (for Arboricultural Impact Assessment).

Having worked collaboratively with the client – Irwell Valley Homes – and the multi-disciplinary project team (CPC, Nexus Planning, AEW Architects and Exterior Architecture), we are pleased to have seen planning permission granted for this exciting development.

Image courtesy of AEW Architects.

Date: 19th June 2020

Curtins takes vital staff training and development programme online

We are pleased to say that as of Tuesday 16^th June, we are successfully running our Curtins Academy online. Our founder, Bill Curtin instilled the importance of staff development in our ‘DNA’. So, when faced with relocating all staff to home working and a future where group training days in our head office seemed unlikely, we decided to switch to a digital delivery.

Curtins Academy is a transformational four-year development programme that presents key technical, professional and commercial industry principles to our graduates, in line with the main relevant professional institutions. Thanks to our Head of Learning & Development, Rebecca King the Academy is now being delivered in full remotely.

To complement structured learning tutorials, our chosen online platform has allowed us to create break-out groups for practical interactivity and increased engagement. This closely resembles our former learning format, but has taken us a step closer towards our digital delivery goals for the business.

The inaugural online session covered Decision Making for 25 Year 3 graduates, led by Directors Diarmuid Healy and Dan Evans. A year one module for fresh graduates is to follow.

Thanks to this change in delivery format, we are pleased to say that the programme can be completed on time. This will ensure that there is no delay to the graduates’ development and their progress towards Chartership with their chosen professional institution.

Find out more about Curtins Academy here.