£500m Swansea city centre revamp A 3,500-seat arena and an aquatics centre will be landmark building projects within an ambitious £500m plan to transform Swansea city centre and seafront.

Plans include landmark high-rise, arena and aquatics centre

Swansea council unveiled the outline plans based on two major redevelopment sites which could see work start as early as 2017. The council has selected developer Rivington Land and Acme to manage the regeneration of the former St David’s shopping centre, the St David’s multi-storey car park and the LC car park. This site includes proposals for a landmark tower and major new arena. Another development partner Trebor Developments will lead redevelopment of the Civic Centre seafront site with a landmark aquatics centre.

The council will now work with its partners to work up details of both plans. Swansea City Centre plan St David’s redevelopment site 

A 3,500-seat arena capable of hosting major international performers, exhibitions and conferences
Tall residential building that could rival Meridian Tower
Retail street and circuit featuring iconic brands
Restaurant and café quarter
Cinema
A new public square
Improved links between the city centre and waterfront seafront site
Apartments
Town houses
Cafes and restaurants
Public space
Public aquarium
Aquatic sciences research centre

Cllr Rob Stewart, City & County of Swansea Leader, said: “We were hugely impressed with the ambition and quality of all the shortlisted bids we received for the Civic Centre and St David’s sites.

“As well as the new shops, restaurants, coffee shops and cafes that could be on their way, the proposed new arena is especially exciting because it could host major international performers and generate increased spending in local businesses. “The imaginative proposal to accommodate a hydro hub featuring a world class aquarium is also particularly exciting because it would help attract many thousands of tourists every year and place Swansea at the heart of cutting-edge aquatic research.” John Laker, Chairman of Rivington Land, said: “Helping to secure planning consent, land ownership, and the key anchor lettings will enable the Council to realise its ambitions for the city centre and will ensure there will be strong institutional investor interest in the scheme’s delivery and long-term investment potential.” Mark Wright, Partner at Trebor Developments, said: “Sites of this scale with such close proximity to both the beach and the city centre are few and far between, and this site offers a hugely exciting opportunity.”

If we all work towards improving how Wales manages its waste everyone will benefit – but how do we do it? Innovation is the key and sticking to the plan. Dr Andy Rees is explaining how on the 10th February.

If you want to stay up to speed with the innovative ideas driving policies around waste management in Wales, then save the data: Wednesday 10th February 2016. 5.30pm for 6.00pm at the Trevithick Lecture Theatre, School of Engineering, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA for a talk from Dr Andy Rees. 

As the Head of Waste Strategy Branch, Welsh Government Dr Andy Rees is at the heart of the mission to make Wales a zero waste economy. His lecture, jointly organised by ICE Wales Cymru, Chartered Institution of waste Management (CIWM) and CEW will highlight the economic, social and environmental benefits to Wales of moving towards a circular economy where resources are kept in productive use for as long as possible. The context includes the new Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the Welsh Government's 2050 'one planet' resource use goal and the European Commission's recently published 'Circular Economy Package'. 

His presentation is followed by Dr Katie Beverley from ECDW. She will cover the opportunities for a circular economy approach for critical raw materials (focussing perhaps on rare earths used in the electronic industry) and industrial wastes (focussing on industrial symbiosis opportunities). Katie will give examples, both from her own experience and from elsewhere. 

Refreshments at 5.30pm in Junior Common Room, lecture at 6.00pm in the TLT 

Book on-line at: https://www.ice.org.uk/events/innovation-in-waste-management or contact felicity.white@ice.org.uk 029 2063 0561

Are you doing the very best you can to win industry awards? Check out our 10 top tips to win the CEW Awards.

Winning awards is something everyone aspires to – it doesn’t matter how much people protest that they don’t regard industry awards highly, or care that much. If you are recognised by your peers for your expertise, success, or your commitment to best practice it is a great achievement and something to feel justifiably proud of.

So doesn’t it make sense to give yourself every chance of winning by completing your entry in the best possible manner? To help you we have compiled ten top tips to guide you through the entry process.

1. It might sound obvious, but make sure the argument about why you win is based on the award criteria. Does your entry fit the brief? Have you answered the questions? Put yourself in the shoes of the judges
2. Demonstrate ambition – make it clear that you have clearly gone beyond the competition and you are leading the pack
3. Give a clear sense of what differentiates your company from others in the field
4. Provide as much evidence of benefits or improvements as possible.
5. Make the case compelling – really demonstrate excellence, don’t just give an aggregation of all the activity being done
6. Make your entry simple and easy to read with no jargon – do not fall into the trap of using marketing and management speak. Focus on using plain language – stick to the facts. If in doubt cut out the adjectives.
7. What are you doing that marks you out as different? We are looking for things that mark out a winner by doing something new and different, not someone who is delivering to industry best practice
8. Recognise the part others have played i.e. collaboration - it’s always good to see a client and other members of the supply chain saying it was wonderful and how it benefitted them
9. Demonstrate continuous improvement – think about what did you do better this year than last and what are you planning to do better next year?
10. If you were to summarise your submission into a Twitter message in 140 characters, what would it be?

If you’re involved in any aspect of procurement, then you need to know about how you can be a part of working towards the goals of a sustainable Wales.

How do you find out more about sustainability? Ask questions, listen and learn and take part in events and workshops such as the shared learning event on ‘Working Towards the Goals of a Sustainable Wales’ aimed at procurement staff and educating attendees about all aspects of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015).

Save the date and details: 9th February 2016 at 9.30am - 2.30pm - Cardiff Business School. 

The Well-being of Future Generations Act will become law in April 2016.  For 44 public bodies, areas of delivery such as Procurement will need to show their contribution to the Goals and Ways of Working detailed in the Act, and summarised on Page 6 and 7 of the  Essentials Guide

As implementation of the Act begins, we will also see businesses, third sector and other organisations that apply for contracts and grants to maintain and develop facilities, being asked to provide evidence of how they are embedding sustainable development. 

The event will give you the opportunity to look at how to work towards the Well-being Goals and use the Sustainable Development Principle from the new Well-being of Future Generations Act.  This is the third of a series of free events for Charter signatories and other bodies that will help translate the intent of the Well-being of Future Generations Act into areas of operation and service delivery.

Contributors will include:

Melin Homes

Fairtrade Wales

Cardiff Business School

The aims of the day are to:

• Identify the links between Procurement and the Well-being of Future Generations Act, and the opportunities it offers   
• Help Procurement Staff realise their contribution to the Goals  and what the Ways of Working mean for their profession
• Share practical examples of good practice across Wales
• Help organisations not under the duty of the Act to work more effectively with the public sector ensuring all organisations are aligned and working to the same Goals  

This free event is for signatories of the SD Charter, but is also open to other organisations to attend.  It would be particularly useful for Procurement Staff in the 44 public bodies.

Booking is via EventBrite

WUFI® Pro: Heat & Moisture Simulation Workshop

• Your only chance to attend WUFI Pro training in the UK in 2016
• Boost your company or your CV and skill set by being able to use WUFI Pro
• Numbers are limited so early booking is advised - get Early Bird rates

April 14th - 15th 2016

Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, Kennington, London SE11 6DN

This two-day course provides a practical, hands-on introduction to WUFI® Pro ‘hygrothermal’ numerical simulation, led by expert trainers Joseph Little and Christian Bludau. 

Is the building you are designing or retrofitting:

• traditionally built or a protected structure?
• to feature a solid wall or unventilated roof buildup?
• tall or in an area of strong winds?
• damp or considered problematic?
• to be fitted with internal wall insulation?
• to be made very airtight and highly insulated?
• to feature timber in vulnerable positions, like joist ends?

If you are concerned about interstitial condensation, mould or rot then you need to evaluate the risks with WUFI® Pro.

This two-day course provides a practical introduction to WUFI® Pro 'hygrothermal' numerical simulation. It is the world leading simulation software for understanding the risk of interstitial condensation, mould, rot and freeze-thaw in buildings.

Both days of training include hands-on workshops using the software, and you will get the full version of the WUFI® Pro software with a 6-week temporary licence, as well as access to support on the online WUFI® Forum for that period... read more

Who should attend?

The workshop is open to all building professionals, e.g. architects, engineers, surveyors, insulation suppliers, system manufacturers, builders and anyone with a focus on fabric performance. No previous experience with the WUFI® Pro software is required.

About the trainers

Joseph Little, BArch, MSc Arch. AEES

Joseph Little is the principal of Joseph Little Architects and Building Life Consultancy, and also Assistant Head of School at Dublin School of Architecture (DIT). He graduated from the UCD School of Architecture in 1996 and from the Graduate School of the Environment at the Centre for Alternative Technology in 2008. Joseph set-up his own practice in 2003 when he realised that his passion for low energy, environmental building design could only be realised outside of mainstream architectural practices and launched Building Life Consultancy in February 2009.

Joseph’s consultancy has recently held WUFI® hygrothermal training accross the UK and in Dublin with Fraunhofer IBP and thermal bridge training in Dublin. He is the co-author of Historic Scotland Technical Paper 15 - 'Assessing risks in insulation retrofits using hygrothermal software tools - heat and moisture transport in internally insulated walls’, a significant report which was launched on 21st September in Dublin.

Christian Bludau, Dipl.-Ing

Christian Bludau is a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, Department for Hygrothermics, in Germany. Christian received his Diploma in Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Munich, Germany in 2001. After his studies he worked as research assistant at the Institute for Building Materials and the Institute for Structural Engineering at the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich.

He has worked as researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics since 2005 and from 2011 he has held a lectureship for building physics / moisture control in building at the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg. His research interests focus on the hygrothermal conditions in wall and roof constructions with special interests in the thermal behaviour of flat roofs. Christian has been involved in many WUFI® seminars, lessons and workshops during the last few years.

Book Early - Early bird offer

Green Register members £600 | non-members £650 

Book after 19 February 2016: Green Register members £650 | non-members £700

Book your place now

Working Towards the Goals of a Sustainable Wales
Date: Tuesday 9th February 2016
Time: 09.30 - 15.15
Location: Cardiff
Cost: Free