Parts Center

Parts Center’s ground-breaking initiative to sell safety-critical gas parts only to registered gas installers will continue under the new Gas Safe Register scheme.

Parts Center is right behind registered installers when it comes to stopping illegal gas workers, and its safety-critical gas parts initiative, which was launched last year, will continue under the new Gas Safe Register scheme.

Until the end of March, gas installers wishing to buy safety-critical gas parts from Parts Center must be registered with CORGI and able to show a valid CORGI ID card.  But as of April 1, when the gas registration scheme transfers to Capita’s Gas Safe Register, installers will then be required to show their Gas Safe Register ID card in order to buy these safety-critical gas parts from Parts Center.

“Parts Center is committed to gas safety and we want to do all we can to stop illegal gas workers,” said Parts Center Brand Marketing Manager Julie McLean. “We are also committed to supporting the new as registration scheme, the industry and individual registered gas fitters, who form the vast majority of our customers. With our safety-critical gas parts initiative, Parts Center is actively promoting safety for the end customer, while at the same time being right behind, the legitimate professional installer.”

The new Gas Safe Register scheme begins on April 1, 2009.  Gas installers must be registered with Gas Safe Register to work legally from April 1st.  There will be no period of dual running with the CORGI scheme, and no grace period. To register on the Gas Safe Register, visit www.gassaferegister.co.uk, or ring 0800 408 5577.

 www.partscenter.co.uk 

If you would like to book a place – email: contact@wolseley.co.uk.

The event will run from 10am-3.30pm & includes a tour of the SBC plus a presentation from our Guest Speak from Walsall Housing Group.

Bloor Homes has become the first housebuilder to take advantage of the government’s offer of £200m to help buy up unsold private homes and turn them in to affordable housing.

The government, via the Housing Corporation, donated £13m to fund a deal whereby housing association Sanctuary has bought 335 affordable homes from the builder.

Read more on Building’s website – Link Full Article

Read the full article…Click Here

The UK’s largest distributor of heating and plumbing products will run the event for local authorities, Registered Social Landlords (RSL) and other providers of social housing on 30 and 31 October 2008 at its new breeam ‘Excellent’ rated Sustainable Building Center (SBC) in Leamington Spa.

Wilby Meadows, Wolseley’s Sector Ddirector for Social Housing, said:

“Effective supply chain management and sustainability are crucial in the social housing sector, especially in view of government plans for all new homes to become carbon neutral in energy usage in the next decade.”

“The seminar will focus on tackling legislation efficiently using improved design, innovation and sustainability to reduce the environmental impact of energy used in the home.”

“The new £3.2m SBC is an ideal venue for the event, enabling attendees to see renewable technologies and sustainable materials in their working environment and see first hand the wide range of options available today, in commercial quantities. Since the facility opened in June we have had a steady stream of visitors including supermarkets, pub operators, hotel chains, housing associations and many more across the public and private sectors.”

Wilby, who has worked in the building materials supply industry for more than 30 years, will open the session with a presentation on the value to housing providers of a comprehensive supply chain solution.

Guest speaker Ian Finlay, director of property services for Walsall Housing Group, one of the largest housing associations in the Midlands, will then provide an insight into the benefits of supply chain integration and Wolseley managed maintenance stores from the RSL’s perspective.

Tim Pollard, Wolseley’s head of sustainability and driver of the SBC project, will highlight the opportunities for providers of social housing to embrace more sustainable building materials and technologies. Tim’s 20-year career in merchanting spans all sectors in the construction market and he is a regular speaker at industry seminars throughout the UK.

In the partnership, which started in March, Daikin UK will supply its leading Altherma air source heat pump for installation into social housing units throughout the UK.

Altherma is the first product of its kind in the UK and provides high efficiency heating and domestic hot water in residential properties. Air source heat pump technology extracts available heat from the air, upgrades it, and transmits it to a hydro-box, where it is transferred to heat water and pumped to either underfloor heating elements or radiators.

Altherma will be included in a new renewables package, Energy4Life, from Wolseley that will provide social housing providers with a total low carbon heating solution that includes all related equipment and materials. Under the partnership Daikin UK and Wolseley will work together on contractor suitability, training, project planning, equipment spares and logistics, in addition to the supply of the Altherma unit.

The package is tailored to the specific needs of local authorities and their partners, including housing associations, local authorities and ALMOs, concerned with the retro fit and new build developments of the UK’s public housing estate.

As well as helping these organisations meet their carbon reduction commitments, this new arrangement is expected to give local authorities significant cost efficiencies by providing them with a bespoke solution bringing together all heating requirements. This provides economies of scale that would not be achievable if having to source from separate suppliers and installers.

Social housing providers and developers have been set challenging targets for energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in the Code for Sustainable Homes, while the Decent Homes Standard requires that 95% of all social housing in the UK be of a minimum standard, and the remainder improved soon after, by 2010.

“We are delighted to have agreed this new contract with Wolseley and are excited by the opportunity it presents for us and the public sector. Daikin UK and Wolseley are both leading businesses in their respective fields and this combines leading renewable technology and products together with a strong track record of supply and logistics in social housing. We believe Energy4Life is a pioneering arrangement that will provide the public sector with a truly cost-effective and sustainable solution that is a major step towards the zero carbon goal and will become the quality benchmark for private housing to follow,”

commented Scott Dorrall, new business development director for Daikin UK Ltd.

Wilby Meadows, Wolseley’s public sector director added:

“With tough targets for emission reduction and energy efficiency, local authorities need solutions and technologies that can help them meet their goals. The Altherma air source heat pump provides energy efficiencies of up to five times more than a traditional heating system, and we are confident that Daikin’s advanced technology, together with Wolseley’s expertise in this sector, will be a welcome development for local authorities and housing associations looking for sustainable development.

“This initiative also demonstrates Wolseley’s commitment to sustainability, as the system, with its low surface temperature heat emitters, meets the accommodation requirements of young and elderly alike and will help to reduce fuel poverty”.

The move follows its appointment as supply chain partner to Interserve FM, which provides building maintenance and repair services for Slough Borough Council and its housing ALMO People 1st Slough, in a deal worth £1.2 million per annum for up to five years.

It has been a record year for Wolseley’s social housing sector sales team, with seven new contracts won in the last six months.

This latest contract win will involve servicing the maintenance requirements of approximately 6,500 council-owned houses, 1,000 leaseholders and more than 70 public buildings from the dedicated 5,000sq ft site on Petersfield Avenue in Slough.

“We were chosen by Interserve Facilities Management thanks to our extensive product range and our successful work with other local authorities on similar projects.”

“We look forward to working closely with Interserve to continually improve the product specification in terms of life cycle, quality, sustainability credentials and value for money.”

Wilby Meadows, Wolseley’s social housing sector director.

In a deal worth an estimated £1 million per annum for up to five years, the UK’s largest distributor of plumbing and heating products will service all response, voids and planned maintenance requirements for the council’s 5,500 homes.

Wolseley will source and supply materials from across its businesses, including Electric Center and Plumb Center, through its new dedicated 5,000 sq ft maintenance store on Acre Road in Reading.

Wilby Meadows, Wolseley UK social housing sector director, said

“We are delighted to win this contract. Thanks to our established supply chain, breadth of product range and extensive experience in this sector, we can effectively and efficiently service the tenants’ varied maintenance requirements.”

“Our expertise in sustainable construction methods and materials was also key to the contract win, as we will be able to advise on the most sustainable and economic products that are available today.”

Nick Burston, corporate projects manager for Reading Borough Council, added:

“We have chosen Wolseley following a rigorous tendering process, with tenant representatives closely involved in the decision making, due to their capacity to continually improve the product specification in terms of durability, quality, cost savings and sustainable credentials.”