NEWS | DIGEST IN BRIEF Refrigerant black market targeted Atelier Ten joins Singapore group M&E engineer will retain brand and autonomy says principal Patrick Bellew The Singapore-based Surbana Jurong Group has taken over the UK environmental design consultancy Atelier Ten. The group, which is owned by a Singapore sovereign wealth fund, is formed of nine member companies, which specialise in architecture, design, engineering, facilities management, and security services worldwide. Patrick Bellew, principal at Atelier Ten, said the move would allow the consultancy to retain its identify while continuing to grow. He said: We see this union with Surbana Jurong as a fantastic opportunity to build upon the successful growth we have enjoyed in the past 30 years. The synergies and opportunities that joining this group presents for Atelier Ten, and for our clients and collaborators are enormous. Atelier Ten worked with Surbana Juroung at Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore We found a partner who has similar brand values a commitment to the environment and performance, he said. Atelier Ten has worked with Surbana Jurong for more than a decade, collaborating with it on Jewel Changi Airport, one of the worlds largest conditioned gardens, and the Mandai rejuvenation project. London-based Atelier Ten is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and has 300 employees in 11 ofces worldwide including the US, Australia and Singapore. In the UK it is working on Googles Kings Cross headquarters. Bellew said talks with Surbana Jurong had been going on for two years. He said: It was a pre-Covid conversation, and part of a strategic plan. Its not a re sale. He said Atelier Ten had grown and taken on more staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the last 20 years weve been protected by being all over the world, he said. IAQ regs fail to protect workers Almost half a million people in the UK are being exposed to poor air quality in their workplace that is harming their health, according to a group of manufacturers. An online meeting of employers and trades unions told Geraint Davies MP, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution, that regulations were too weak and poorly enforced. The meeting, hosted by Global Action Plan and Zehnder Clean Air Solutions, outlined the ndings of a white paper on the current state of air quality in the manufacturing and logistics industries. It calculated that 440,000 UK workers with health conditions that are worsened by air pollution are still being exposed to unhealthy levels of airborne contaminants. The paper With every breath we make: ensuring healthy air for manufacturing workers calls on the government to update regulations to lower the acceptable limits for air pollutants in industrial workplaces to 1mg/m3 for respirable dust down from the current 4mg/m3 set by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations. It also called for long-term research combining air-quality monitoring at manufacturing sites with the tracking of workforce health issues. Regulators must enforce lower limits to protect the hidden heroes who have continued to work throughout the pandemic, especially given that ongoing research is increasingly linking poor air quality to the worsening of Covid-19 symptoms, said Global Action Plans Chris Large. A Scottish firm is leading international efforts to target the black market trade in greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems. The governments innovation agency is funding a research project by Vistalworks, aimed at cutting up to 840,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. The company hopes to launch a new software platform that will help European enforcement agencies target the illegal trade in hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases in time for the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow next year. Lift engineer award winners announced Vicente Pacheco and Paul Clements have jointly won the inaugural Alex MacDonald Award, LECS (UK) and the University of Northampton have announced. The award created in memory of outstanding young engineer Alex MacDonald, who died aged 29 was introduced in early 2020 to recognise students with an innovative research dissertation as part of the University of Northamptons Masters degree in lift engineering. Dave Cooper, LECS (UK) MD, said: I hope this Award will encourage all MSc students to push the boundaries in thought and research developments as well as create a legacy for Alex who was an exceptional engineer. Sharma praises construction sector Business Secretary Alok Sharma has praised the construction industry for its response to the Covid-19 crisis. He wrote an open letter thanking the sector for its vital role in delivering emergency hospital capacity, supporting public services and accelerating work on infrastructure projects. While doing this, the industry has itself had to innovate and adapt, changing the way it operates on sites, finding more efficient ways of delivering projects, and collaborating effectively throughout the supply chain, the Minister wrote. Thank you again to everyone operating in the UK construction sector. You are making a hugely valued and critical contribution.. 10 December 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Dec21 pp10 News 2.indd 10 20/11/2020 14:10