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WE ARE CONSTRUCTION Thursday 00 Month 2008 | £2.80
Estimators shortage
Wednesday 24 September 2008 | £3.25
sees tenders suffer
Recruitment p50 p31
Nuclear deals for
UK subcontractors
US ENGINEERING giant Westinghouse
is promising to use local
subcontractors to build £15bn of
nuclear reactors in the UK.
UK vice-president David Powell
told a fringe meeting at the Labour
conference in Manchester: “Through
our ‘Buy Where We Build’ strategy we
can maximise the local supply chain,
creating opportunities for everyone.”
Powell said the Westinghouse
AP1000 nuclear reactor could help
deliver more than £30bn to the
economy – half through construction
of new sites, a third from operating
the plants and the rest from servicing.
The nuclear programme ramped up
this week with the imminent sale of
British Energy (BE) to French giant EDF.
EDF’s deal with BE is seen as crucial to
kick-starting the UK’s programme to
build new nuclear power stations.
As part of the deal two key BE nuclear
sites are expected to be handed back to
the government by EDF. The sites will
be auctioned off to other power
companies later this year along with
other sites currently owned by the
Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, in a
bid to increase competition and speed
up the programme.
Names in the frame for the auction
include Germany’s RWE and Eon,
Spain’s Iberdrola and Sweden’s
Vattenfall.
Ibstock to close
two factories
THE UK’s biggest brick manufacturer
Ibstock is to close two factories and
mothball a third, while Wienerberger
announced that 71 jobs would go as it
axed its plant in Kidderminster.
Ibstock’s Roughdales plant in
Merseyside and Funton in Kent are
scheduled for closure, while Ellistown
in Leicestershire will be shelved.
Both companies blamed the downturn
in the housebuilding market.
Plant Hire, p21
Contracts p11 Business p14 Plant p18 Legal p44 People p47 Jobs p50 Classified p57 Contracts Open p62
Xxxxxxxx
Still learning
CJ50, p16
Freelance estimator rates soar as firms up their bid activity in face of dwindling workloads.
grant.prior@rbi.co.uk
brian.warner@rbi.co.uk
A CHRONIC shortage of estimators
is hampering contractors as firms desperately
chase work during the current
downturn.
Freelance estimators have seen their
rates soar to £50 an hour as firms scramble
to get on tender lists.
One source said: “With the current
shortage it’s a case of more tenders per
estimator and the quality suffers.”
Industry experts are worried that an
ageing population of estimators is not
being replaced by a new generation of
bidding specialists.
One leading estimator said: “There
is a chronic shortage and it is getting
worse as senior estimators retire
and companies can’t find full-time
replacements.
“You can hire freelancers for £50 an
hour, but it is always better to have permanent
staff dealing with bids.”
Another said: “We are an ageing breed
– there are three of us in the office and
we are 65, 63 and 57.
“Often when trainee estimators get
site work experience they prefer to stay
there at the coalface rather than get
stuck in an office behind a desk.”
More estimators than ever are
needed now as contractors up their
RUNNING THE SHOW Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt shows sprinter Jason Gardner how the site will
look during an open day last week at the 2012 site. Thousands of people took the chance to tour the Olympic Park to
check on progress for the London Games as part of the ODA’s “Open House” programme.
bidding activity to chase dwindling
workloads.
William Kay, Kier northern managing
director said: “It is still very hard
to find bid managers, cost estimators
and estimators. That is going to be a
big problem as people bid for more and
more work.”
Another contractor said: “I’ve been
trying to employ a competent estimator
for months but ended up having
to poach one from a rival contractor.”
Recruitment specialist Scott Bulloch
of ATA Selection said: “The challenge is
finding estimators, because everyone is
tendering for everything as the market
goes through changes.”
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