NEWS Sullivan appointed deputy chair of CIC The Construction Industry Council (CIC) has appointed Justin Sullivan as its new deputy chair, with a view to succeeding Stephen Hodder MBE as chair at next Junes AGM. Sullivan is a quantity surveyor with more than 30 years experience and CEO of Adair, which he founded more than 25 years ago. He specialises in project management, quantity surveying and project monitoring for commercial projects, and is responsible for some significant developments in the high-end residential sector. A Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), he is also chair of the International Construction Measurement Standards Coalition (ICMS) and vice-chair of the RICS Construction Market Forum. Cooling gets personal Air conditioning manufacturer Fujitsu has developed a wearable device that cools the blood to lower the bodys core temperature. The Cmodo gear is worn around the neck and contains three small Peltier elements that cool the blood flowing through carotid arteries. It sends heat to a water-cooled heat sink worn on the waist and, according to Fujitsu, the system can cool the body even at temperatures above 35C. The cooling unit weighs around 170g and the radiator/battery is around 840g. Fujitsu says it is ideal for people working outdoors or without access to air conditioning, including many in the engineering and construction sectors. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery offers two-to-four hours of cooling and takes three hours to charge. MPs urge swifter action on dangerous cladding Compulsory purchase buildings if work not started by end of 2020, says committee MPs have urged the government to take legal action to recoup the cost of replacing dangerous cladding on more than 2,000 buildings. The Housing, Communities and Local Government committee said it is not good enough that thousands of residents continued to live in high-risk buildings three years after the Grenfell Tower disaster. Unsafe cladding is still on 2,000 buildings We have challenged the government to finally commit to removing all dangerous cladding, said committee chair Clive Betts, who added that the 1bn Building Safety Fund would not be sufficient. The fund should be increased so that it is enough to cover the amount of work that is actually needed, both to remove cladding and resolve wider fire-safety concerns. Compulsory purchase order powers should be used to take direct ownership of buildings where owners have failed to begin remedial work by December 2020. A piecemeal approach that will see homeowners facing many more years of stress and financial hardship is not an option. The same ACM cladding used on Grenfell Tower has been identified on 457 high-rise residential or other publicly owned buildings, but has been removed from just 149 so far. Another 1,700 buildings are fitted with unsafe non-ACM cladding, the government believes including certain types of laminate panels and this also needs to be removed. The MPs said the government should ensure all ACM cladding is removed by December 2021 and all other dangerous types by June 2022. Call to widen combustible materials ban The Construction Industry Council (CIC) wants the government to extend the ban on the use of combustible materials to a wider range of buildings, including care homes, halls of residence and, potentially, schools. Its recommendation comes in response to a government consultation, published in January, that proposes changing the Building Regulations to ban the use of combustible materials in and on external walls, and in specified attachments to the external walls, on buildings such as hotels, hostels and boarding houses of 11m or above. The CIC also wants a reduction in the 11m height for buildings where vulnerable people sleep, including care homes, which represent a higher risk. In its response, the council called for more research into the use of timber as structural material, and external shading to mitigate overheating. 6 July 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE June 2020 p06-07 News.indd 6 19/06/2020 16:45