Bellaghy-based, Premier Electrics was named ‘Construction Supplier of the Year’ in a special awards ceremony organised by the retail giant.

The accolade was given for the quality of Premier Electrics’ work on a number of Asda store projects but particularly for its commitment on internal refurbishment works carried out at a store in Clapham.

Gary Brogan, Premier Electrics’ key account holder for Asda, takes up the story.

“We were scheduled to fly a team over to London to carry out an electrical upgrade in the Clapham store when all flights were grounded as a result of the recent problems associated with volcanic ash. But because of the amount of planning that had already gone into preparing for this contract and the fact that we didn’t want to let Asda down, we quickly implemented a revised travel plan involving ferries and car hire.

“We arrived, got the job done and are now delighted that our customer focus and commitment has been recognised in these awards.”

Tony Shivers, Premier Electrics’ Company Manager the company was delighted with the latest award.

“As a company we always endeavour to go the extra mile for our clients. In this particular case, it involved quite a few extra miles! We are proud of our relationship with Asda and that our hard work and characteristic customer focus have been recognised in this way.”

Gary Brogan, representing Premier Electrics, was presented with the award at a gala evening held at the Royal Armories in Leeds.

Ends/

SIAC Construction, which has its Northern Ireland base just off Belfast’s Boucher Road, has been awarded a major contract to construct a 35km long new motorway scheme in southern Poland at a value of over €450 million.

The scheme, part of the motorway between Krakow and Rzeszów, includes 28 bridges, one of which is a 22 span river bridge. Construction will start in August 2010 and it is expected to take 24 months to complete.

“This will be an exciting challenge for us, but we have already deployed some of our senior managers to Poland to commence working on this project,” said John Geoghegan, SIAC Operations Director.

SIAC (NI) Ltd, which is managed by Kieran Doyle, recently won a major quality award for its environmental improvement scheme in Armagh and the company will shortly complete similar schemes in Lurgan and Portadown town centres.

Commenting on the Polish contract, Ronnie Foreman, Chairman of SIAC (NI) Ltd, said:

“With the downturn in the economy reducing major infrastructure project opportunities across Ireland and Great Britain, we took a strategic decision to try and develop international markets where we saw potential.

“We are delighted to have secured this contract. Experience gained with similar projects and our programme of alliances with major international civil engineering contractors and specialist contractors, means that we are well equipped to undertake multi-disciplinary projects of this sort of scale and complexity.”

Notes to editors

SIAC Construction is a large multi-disciplined construction group with significant operations across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It provides turnkey solutions to the civil engineering and building industries and has extensive commercial development and other investment interests.

SIAC constructed the landmark Boyne Bridge on the M1 motorway, and was also responsible for construction of the motorway south of the River Boyne and the A1/NI Newry/Dundalk link Road. In the last five years, it has also completed two major PPP projects in Ireland, consisting of 110km of high quality motorway.

The store was given the accolade at the industry’s gala Retail Week awards ceremony.  Mid Ulster-based electrical contractor Premier Electrics sent over a 25 man team to undertake the project over a six-month period and it was successfully completed in time for last summer’s busy sales campaign.

Premier Electrics was established by Co Derry man Mark Scullion in 1993, and has steadily built up a reputation for efficiency and excellence in the retail sector with major fit outs on big name brands including Primark, M&S, Argos, Brown Thomas, Arcadia Group, Debenhams, Asda and O₂.

Last year, the company was involved in major multi-million euro projects with Primark across Europe, in Bremen, Liege and Frankfurt.

Premier Electrics’ six-month involvement at Primark Bristol entailed the electrical fit-out of all lighting and power systems, a fire alarm, an anti intruder system, and the installation of CCTV, data and public address systems.  Company Manager, Tony Shivers, described the work as some of the most involved Premier has undertaken with Primark to date:

“There are some really smart new features in this store, both internally and externally.  We installed a range of new light fittings including glim cube units at the front end of the building, lighters to wash the exterior walls, and special batten feature lights to illuminate the impressive facade at night.

Premier Electrics would like to extend our congratulations to Primark Stores Ltd on this ‘Store Design of the Year’ award. We are delighted to have played a part in this successful project.”

Ends

The Ballymena company, part of the Patton Group, took the Gold Award in one of three major categories within the annual Interior Fit-Out Awards organised by the UK-wide Association of Interior Specialists (AIS).

The award provides further recognition of Patton Fit-Out’s ability to compete at the highest level with the UK’s top fit-out organisations.

The £1m Shepherds Bush fit-out project took just ten weeks to complete and included M&E services, internal fixtures and wall, floor and ceiling finishes as well as the installation of non-structural partitions, passenger lifts and a striking balustrade depicting a map of the general area around Shepherds Bush.

The 900sq m library, which was opened in August last year, is located outside one of the main entrances to the 43-acre White City Shopping Centre and boasts wifi, music computer software and playstations . It is stocked with more than 10,000 brand new fiction and non-fiction books as well as more than 1,000 new DVDs, 600 CDs and 25 computers for public use.  One particularly clever feature is the use of Radio Frequency book tags which allows the reserving of books for clients’ arrival so they can collect and issue their books without the need to interact with staff.

Patton Fit-Out was appointed as the main contractor for the internal aspect of the project with the exterior envelop built as part of the centre.

The Patton Fit-Out team worked alongside architectural design practice FaulknerBrowns to develop the initial design concept and then with Quadrant Design to take the concepts to the next level.

Brendan Boyd, Director of Patton Fit-Out says: “The aspirations of the joint clients, Westfield and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, were to challenge the preconceptions of a library and for it to be integral to the larger retail development.  The design in essence, had to appeal to shoppers as well as existing library users. The finished interior is really spectacular and creates a facility that is both impressive and unique.  We believe the success of this scheme demonstrates clearly our ability to take on even the most complex challenge and underlines our wide range of competencies across retail, leisure, office and commercial.

“Although we have won a number of major awards in the past few years, this is the first time we have been recognised by the AIS. Given their standing as one of the UK’s most respected trade associations, representing companies’ right across the full spectrum of interior contracting, this is an accolade that ranks with the best.”

Richard Robinson at Quadrant Design said: “The opportunity to work on such a high profile public project located within the largest city shopping centre in Europe was undertaken with excitement within the practice.

“We approached the detail development of the FaulknerBrown concept scheme and initial proposals with the view that we had to maintain the original design intent.  The detail was further developed and elements, such as the projecting aluminium shards at first floor level, the carcassing to the book shelving system and the intricate suspended ceiling, that could be realised within the programme and budget were developed in conjunction with specialist manufacturers and suppliers.

“To have been part of the team and to have won such an award is a great compliment to the entire delivery and design team.”

/ends.

Well what about outside of the house? Gardens are an often-overlooked area of home improvement yet proper landscaping not only creates a more pleasant living environment; it also adds real value to your property. If you’re thinking of selling, for example, your front garden is what will greet potential buyers and we all know you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

The benefit

Not only will you attract more potential buyers and get a quicker sale (not to mention being the envy of your neighbours) you’ll probably get a welcome boost to your asking price. By spending five per cent of the value of your home on landscaping you should recoup all your costs if you sell up and you might even make money.

If your landscaping is on the low end for the area bringing it up to par with your neighbours could increase the value of your property by as much as 15 per cent. And academic studies are proving the point. One university study found that consumers valued a landscaped home up to 11.3 per cent above its base price. Another consumer survey in Ireland found that hedges raised property value by 3.6 per cent, a landscaped kerb by 4 per cent and a landscaped patio by a staggering 12.4 per cent.

Where to start?

With the front of the home being the first point of contact for visitors and potential buyers, the order of the day is mowing, weeding, trimming shrubs and re-turfing if necessary. If you have a budget it is important to focus your landscaping around key areas that are going to be seen – such as the front door.

Acheson & Glover make things easy these days by offering a landscape design service through their Outside Room centres located across Northern Ireland. At the centres, you’ll also find beautiful paving and flags and garden walling to help stimulate your imagination.

Hot trends at the moment include stunning pathways created using concrete pavers winding from the street to the front door.  You can add real character to your scheme by making paths slightly curved or staggered or by adding paving circles, for example, to define an entranceway easily.

The backyard sanctuary

Once you’ve completed the landscaping at the front of your home, your next point of attack is the backyard “sanctuary”. More and more people want to create a peaceful haven to relax in. A patio at the rear of your property could be just what you need but choose the colours and finishes of the paving and flags carefully to blend in with their surroundings.

Bringing the indoors outside is also a great way to enhance the value of your living space. A brick barbeque can increase your usable space, providing a great way to entertain in the summer and show off your culinary skills!

Once you’ve come up with your design and given your garden the makeover it deserved, there’s only one thing left to do: sit back, relax and give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve just made what could turn out to be the best property investment decision you’ll ever make.

For more ideas log on to www.outside-room.com or visit any of Acheson & Glover’s Outside Rooms (locations on their website).

Once a common sight in rivers and lakes, white-clawed crayfish are now on an ever-increasing list of globally threatened species. But in an effort to turn the tide for crayfish, Acheson & Glover joined forces with the Ballinderry River Enhancement Association and other partners to create a purpose built habitat Ark site for the Ballinderry White-clawed Crayfish – a sanctuary in a working sand pit.

When River Trusts from all over the UK and Ireland met in Cookstown recently for a major conference, they took time out to visit a number of sites in the Ballinderry River, including the Ark Site at QPANI member Acheson & Glover’s sand pit.

“We were delighted to show the delegates around,” said Lyle Cairns, Operations Manager at Acheson & Glover.

“We constructed a shelved habitat bay using concrete slabs and broken stone. Thousands of tiny nooks and crannies provide homes for these freshwater ‘lobster-like’ creatures. Even the company’s Heritage home building bricks (with holes through the middle of them) have been used to make homes for the crayfish.

“As land managers, biodiversity conservation is an important part of environmental management at all of our sites by means of careful planning, operation and progressive restoration.

“We are committed to the continual improvement of our company’s operations where our activities have an impact on, or opportunity for, biodiversity, as confirmed in our Biodiversity Policy.”

The Association of Rivers Trusts is an umbrella organisation representing Rivers Trusts – community led charities established by local people to resolve problems, and improve the water quality and biodiversity associated with particular rivers which have led to the degradation of the freshwater environment and loss of precious wildlife.

Ends…

Northern Ireland’s only motel was commended in the annual NI Tourism Awards’  Serviced Accommodation category held in Belfast City Hall.

NITB chairman, Howard Hastings, said the awards celebrated the successes and achievements of the industry.

“Competition was fierce and I commend the inspirational high standards of everyone who participated. We have so much to be proud of and all the finalists again this year represent the enthusiasm, innovation and sheer hard work that I have encountered in my first year as NITC chairman.”

Michael McCann, head of sponsor, Diageo Northern Ireland said the winners were “the key to continued success and future development of our tourism industry.”

Widely recognized as leaders in the education sector, Sapa was able to provide the answer to the specialised fenestration requirements of the UK’s first Jewish cross communal secondary school JCoSS, where glazing is a major feature of the design.

The new building will open in phases, taking its first intake of Year 7 pupils in September.  By the time it is at full capacity, in 2015, it will offer 1,310 places.

“Our experts at Sapa were able to offer superior design solutions when the project was upgraded to fully enhanced glazing requirement,” said Graham Hurrell, Sapa Building Systems’ Director of Specification Sales. Keen pricing was also a major factor in Sapa winning the contract.

The striking 14,490m2 state-of-the-art building is benefiting from Sapa’s Powerframe enhanced windows, doors and curtain walling protection systems and Dualframe 75mm window system in a contract worth around £1.3 m to the fabricator and installer, Fleetwood Windows Ltd.

“Dualframe signifies a new era in aluminium fenestration, with products that have been specifically designed to comply with the changes to the Building Regulations which apply to thermal performance, both now and in the future,” said Graham Hurrell.

Capable of achieving a category ‘A’ rating under the Government-supported Window Energy Rating (WER) scheme, Dualframe is an integrated aluminium door and window suite with ultra slim lines which uses the latest thermal break technology. Dualframe complies with Part L of the Building Regulations using only hard coat, low emissivity glass with standard edge spacers to the double glazed units.

For further information contact Sapa Building Systems, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, tel:  01684 853 500 website www.sapabuildingsystems.co.uk

Ends….

For instead of completing the expected 50km hike, the team reckon they walked an additional 20 kms due to a few technical details with their map reading.

“There were a few mishaps,” admitted Lisburn based team member Julie McBride, Northern Ireland Manager of Venture Photography which has studios in Belfast and Lisburn.

“But it was well worth it as we raised over £1,700 for Action Medical Research and only accumulated four blisters between us!”

Essentially a 50km fundraising trek through the Mourne Mountains, the iPlod event had one important difference – starting at midnight, teams were expected to finish a designated route in 15-17 hours, clocking in at various check points along the way whilst completing a number of tasks.

The idea of ‘plodding’ for charity came from Dunmurry Telesales Manager Kevin MacManus, who is based at Venture’s Belfast branch on the Lisburn Road. As team captain he formed the necessary team with Julie McBride (from Lisburn), Art Director Francis Meaney (Donacloney), photographer Sharon Duffin (Larne), Jenn Whalley, a former employee at Venture’s head office in England and Production Manager Joe Faughey, (Hillsborough), the team’s support driver.

“None of the team are professional ramblers so the more information we found out about what the challenge involved, the more daunting it sounded,” said Julie. “But nevertheless we all bought in to the purpose behind the Plod – raising money for sick and vulnerable babies and disabled children,” she added.

“Being busy people with demanding jobs and families made training hard, but we managed to fit in a good number of walking sessions at Castlewellan, Tollymore Forest Park and Cave Hill in preparation,” said Kevin.

However, the team admit now they should also have spent a little more time honing their orientation skills – on the eve of the iPlod none of them were entirely sure how to read on Ordinance Survey map, making the initial orienteering task around Tollymore Forest more difficult than they expected.

“It was midnight when we started and as we got deeper into the forest (where it got darker and quieter), it became apparent we had taken a wrong turn,” said Julie. “When we eventually completed that task and reached the check point at 5am we wondered why no-one else was around.  “It soon became clear – we had arrived six hours early and missed a huge section of the course due to another wrong turn.

“In hindsight, this was possibly the funniest moment, although at the time all that could be felt was sheer disappointment after five hours of walking without sleep and panic at the thought of being kicked off the Plod or having to start over.

“Luckily, the iPlod crew were really helpful and arranged for us to meet up with our support driver, Joe, who took us back on track. After a rest and some breakfast we decided to pick up our spirits and set out again – only to take another wrong turn. Luckily, this time we realized early enough to get back on track.”

Catching up with other iPlod trekkers, the Venture team decided it might be advantageous to follow a team that knew their way to the finish point and so despite their earlier map mishaps, the team managed to finish in a very creditable 16.5 hours.

“Surprisingly, walking at night was not scary in the slightest,” said Julie “The forest was very quiet and dark but we were all very focused on the task in hand. As dawn began to break during our ascent up the Mournes the view was awe inspiring. There were little pockets of mist in the valley and clouds surrounding the peaks, and the sky took on a pink/purple glow which made us forget that

The Armagh-based Graphic Design student has turned novelty cake-making into a work of art, so much so that impressed customers are loathe to take a knife and actually cut into her quirky creations to eat them.

“I once made a detailed Mickey Mouse cake for a first birthday order and the parents would only cut the back of the cake,” she says. “In the end, they left it so long that the cake had to be thrown out.  I know this is a huge compliment, but I want people to enjoy the taste as well!”

LFD Cake Design is really taking off after Francine completed the Invest Northern Ireland Go for it programme at Armagh Business Centre when she was made redundant from her job in event management.

With a BA Degree in Media and Advertising and an MA in Graphic Design, she is now using skills in both areas to bake bespoke decorative cakes for corporate events, weddings, birthday parties and anniversaries.

“The Go For It programme at Armagh Business Centre was invaluable in helping me formulate my business idea and making sure I did not forget something important,” said Francine, who creates her masterpieces from a dedicated corner of her  kitchen at Portadown Road, Armagh.

Standing in her apron sprinkled with icing sugar wasn’t the image she had in mind when she first studied Design, but she loves her new career and enjoys coming up with clever, quirky ideas for her cakes, almost as much as baking and decorating them.

“I have always been a bit of a joker,  so I love to inject a bit of humour into the design,” she adds. “If I know the person and a little of their personality, it is so much easier.  I want people to look at my cakes and smile.”

She once baked four cakes in one day and regularly spends  several  hours meticulously decorating them with colourful figures, symbols and shapes  made from regal icing.

One of her favourites to date  has been a ‘Wonky’ three-tier cake she was asked to make for an 18^th birthday party which she intriguingly describes as a sort of  “upside down cake” which leans at angles, rather like an edible Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Another, made for a grandmother of 90, her brief was to combine the themes of travel, dancing and Italy – ideas which would stir memories of her youth for the ‘birthday girl’ in question. “This was quite an interesting one and I had a lot of fun with it,” said Francine.

“I created a mother figure lying on a beach, a husband sitting on the edge of the cake in his swimming gear and their four children on the other side. I added a pink dancing dress, a newspaper with fish and chips on the top, as the family used to own a fish and chip shop, and put a big ‘90’ in the middle. The grandmother loved it all, except the number which reminded her of her age!”

Having always enjoyed helping her mum bake cakes when she was a child, the idea for LFD Cake Design snowballed after Francine helped her mum bake a wedding cake for a family member – and on seeing the results, there followed more requests from family and friends who wanted to celebrate a special occasion with a rather special type of cake.

“I started thinking I could make a hobby into a business and that was when I decided to get some proper business training on the Go for it programme which really helped me put my plan into action,” added Francine. “ I am now extending the business to included branded muffins and cupcakes for corporate events and I would love some day to have my own specialised shop – now that would really be the icing on the cake.”

Anyone who would like to check out Francine’s cakes or who would like further information, can contact her on…..