We keep telling you about the ways your FMB membership can save you money, but now, we have developed our latest ‘Crunch Buster’ – the ‘FMB Benefits Calculator’ to show you exactly how you can save enough money to recoup the cost of your FMB membership renewal.
Also in this issue we remind you of the dangers of asbestos if it isn’t treated with the greatest respect. The HSE has just launched its latest campaign to keep construction workers safe when facing asbestos. Horrifyingly, more people die as a result of exposure to asbestos than in road accidents. The number of deaths continues to rise and is predicted to peak around 2015, but if you can identify asbestos, you can avoid dangerous contact with it.
We also have sound advice this month on how to deal competently and confidently with aggressive and deceptive sales calls.
OTHER PEOPLE’S BUILDING SITES
I have lived on a building site for most of this year, while ‘Rogers Towers’ has been extended and renovated. Now that the project is almost at an end, strangely I am beginning to miss the sight of the skip on the lawn and window frames propped up against a hole in the wall. Therefore, I have taken to visiting OPBSs (Other People’s Building Sites), just to get that whiff of wet plaster, and (to be perfectly frank with you) to pinch ideas for the next Rogers project.
Last month I went to see FMB and MasterBond member Mark Tompkins of MWT Construction in Buckinghamshire. In 2007 he bought a small plot of land in Fairford Leys, a quiet, modern residential area of Aylesbury, with outline planning permission for six luxury apartments. As the project neared completion he sold the entire building to one purchaser and the vacant plot next door caught his eye. The sign of a successful developer is the ability to spot potential where others might not, and this new plot was on a corner, facing an existing and unusual building currently used as an office. The local authority granted planning permission on the understanding that Mark’s new building should match its neighbour as closely as possible. You can see from the pictures here just how successful Mark has been, and inside he has cleverly configured the layout in a way that’s perfect for modern living. This little building is now a comfortable, easy to run modern home where Mark has paid great attention to detail. He has followed the planners’ requests to the letter and this very smart residential area just off the town centre is now complete.
