EWS UNDERWATER RESTAURANT GETS SMART LIGHTING An underwater restaurant has opened on Norways southern coast. The buildings imposing monolithic form rests on the shoreline, but is also partly submerged so it appears to become part of the marine environment. The lighting scheme designed by AF Lighting aims to draw attention to the surroundings. It consists of 400 one-cell, recessed Laser Blade XS luminaires, which are concealed in the ceiling and focus light only on the tables. The service lighting system has been reduced to a minimum, thanks to the use of tags that interact with the luminaires, which means they come on when waiters approach. Javid promises 30m decarbonisation fund Javid pledged 30m to improve air quality Chancellor pledges to rebuild national infrastructure The Chancellor Sajid Javid said he had turned the page on austerity as he allocated a 30m fund for infrastructure decarbonisation schemes as part of a decade of renewal. Details of how the money would be spent will be set out in the new National Infrastructure Strategy, due to be unveiled later this year. The first priority of our new economic plan will be to rebuild national infrastructure, said Javid. High-quality and reliable infrastructure is essential to how we live, work and travel; but the truth is that, over the past decades, governments of all colours have underinvested [in this area]. He also announced another 30m for measures to tackle air pollution in urban areas, and committed 432m to deliver a safe and ambitious departure from the EU, while setting global standards CIBSE Oct19 pp07 News.indd 7 in protecting and harnessing value from the natural environment. He announced a total of 13.8bn of expenditure for the forthcoming spending round. Reaction has been mixed: environmental groups say the commitments do not go far enough towards the goal of a net zero carbon economy by 2050. Measures to cut climate-wrecking pollution need far more than the financial crumbs offered by the Chancellor, said Friends of the Earth head of policy Mike Childs.This announcement falls a long way short of the 42bn needed every year to tackle the planetary emergency. Government reverses VAT rule change Trade bodies have welcomed the governments decision to delay the implementation of its new Reverse Charge VAT rules until October 2020 hailing the decision as a victory for SMEs in construction. The new accounting rules were due to come into effect from this month, but were widely condemned as putting too much of a burden on construction SMEs at an already difficult time. Many businesses were evidently not ready for the initial deadline, said ECA director of Legal and Business, Rob Driscoll. Given the backlog of businesses requesting conversion from quarterly to monthly VAT returns, it seems neither were HMRC. The Reverse Charge system means that VATregistered businesses no longer have to account for VAT. Instead, the customer will account for the VAT directly. Suppliers would have experienced a cash shortfall of 20% in the short-term. Sharp fall in new work reported New work in the construction sector fell by its fastest rate in more than 10 years in August, according to the latest Construction Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). Business activity dropped back for the fourth consecutive month and at a faster rate than in July, with the commercial building sector suffering the most. Most respondents blamed Brexit and domestic political uncertainty for clients delaying project decisions. The sector is also at its least optimistic since December 2008. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers Index stood at 45.0 in August, down slightly from 45.3 in July and below the 50.0 no-change threshold for the fourth consecutive month. The sector fell deeper into contraction as continuing uncertainty and a weakened UK economy took a sizeable bite out of this months construction activity, said Duncan Brock, group director at CIPS. Inevitably business confidence followed suit, dropping like a brick to its worst since December 2008 and close to the lowest depth seen in the previous recession. Construction companies said new orders have dropped in each month since April and data showed the sharpest decline in new work since March 2009. Input buying dipped for the fifth consecutive month, which is the longest period of decline since the first half of 2013, according to the survey. However, the drop in demand for products and materials did ease the pressure on supply chains and reduced delivery delays. Input cost inflation fell to its lowest level since March 2016. www.cibsejournal.com October 2019 7 20/09/2019 15:57