MCBAINS COOPER APPOINTS NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.

MCBAINS COOPER 

PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY

PRESS RELEASE

September 7, 2011.

MCBAINS COOPER APPOINTS NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.

Property and construction consultancy McBains Cooper has appointed Jonathan Mintz as Chief Financial Officer based at the firm’s City of London offices.

Jonathan, 42, a Manchester University graduate, joins from property finance and development specialists Lend Lease Corporation where he was also Chief Financial Officer, working with the business’ Continental Europe, Middle East and Latin America operations.

“What grabbed me was McBains Cooper’s ambitions to drive development in Latin America, the Mediterranean and Middle East – and then when I started to grow my understand of the business I realised that far from being a vision, they were actually delivering against those ambitions,” said Jonathan.

“It is extremely inspiring to come across a business in the property and construction sector which is moving heaven and earth to establish itself in sectors and markets – and then delivering presence, business – and contracts.”

Jonathan has been involved in the finance function of several construction-related businesses since the mid-1990s.

Michael Thirkettle, Chief Executive of McBains Cooper, said: “Anybody coming into the property and construction sector at a senior level, and who has not previously been involved in the sector can sometimes find the environment a little too challenging.

“But Jonathan has the experience and scar tissue to appreciate just how tough the sector is. He obviously has wider management and sector experience – crucially, in international markets – which bring an extra something to the team.”

Away from the office, Jonathan until recently held a licence to freefall parachute anywhere in the world, although is currently keeping his feet well and truly in and on the earth, cycling, gardening and wine tasting.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

07788 978800 im@pressrelations.co.uk

www.mcbainscooper.com

Notes.

McBains Cooper

McBains Cooper is an inter-discipline consultancy, specialising in property, infrastructure and construction, offering a wide range of consulting and design services including architectural, aesthetic or technical design, problem solving, budget management, facilities management, health and safety, sustainability consultancy and on-the-ground civil engineering. Driving and supporting projects ranging from minor works to major contracts worth more than £100 million, McBains Cooper operates across a variety of sectors throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America. McBains Cooper is committed to environmental, social and economic sustainable development and their integrated approach means they deliver effective, award-winning solutions to their clients. The Group employs 150 people. McBains Cooper has regional headquarters in London (head office), Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, Athens, Lima (Peru), Miami and Mexico, with associate offices in Belfast and Dublin. www.mcbainscooper.com

A COOL GREEN HOT SOLUTION AND A QUIET SUCCESS FOR ADDENBROOKE’S HOSPITAL

MCBAINS COOPER

PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY

PRESS RELEASE

September 15, 2010.

A COOL GREEN HOT SOLUTION AND A QUIET SUCCESS FOR ADDENBROOKE’S HOSPITAL.

They may look like regular flats and apartments, but the four buildings at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge conceal structural and design features unique to the demands and lifestyle of the residents – and have the potential to massively influence the local economy.

The Oxford-based team at international property and construction consultancy McBains Cooper was commissioned to manage the £20 million, 292 apartment, Sanctuary Housing Association project – but the team had a particularly challenging brief: a very tight window to complete the work, and unique issues relating to demands on hot water systems and sound insulation.

“First, this was a two year project that had to be delivered in 18 months come-what-may because the hospital needed to bring in healthcare professionals fast – and keep them there; second, we had to design in a number of unusual elements to cater for the work cycle of the residents – who are all doctors or nurses,” said Jo Churchill of McBains Cooper.

“The medical staff work in shifts, and those shifts change at times when normal residential properties would be quiet – so there are huge peaks of demand on the building’s systems at unusual times, for example, the need for large volumes of hot water in the middle of the afternoon or early hours of the morning when dozens or more people run baths or showers at the same time.

“The solution was to ditch the normal central heating boiler-based system, and to heat water through solar panels and feed it into large tanks where it was kept hot – this also helped achieve the 10% renewables requirement.

“The next issue was noise: the last thing an exhausted medical professional needs after a double shift is to suffer broken sleep, so we had to pay particular attention to the acoustic qualities of the building.

“This we achieved by modular manufacturing most of the building off site – which also helped address the time constraints – and by bringing in special twin wall panels from Germany, which were then filled with extremely high density concrete.

“At each stage of the development of these wall panels we consulted acoustic specialists who assessed the likely effectiveness of this sound-deadening to ensure that it was as efficient as possible, and which makes these flats amongst the quietest of their type in the world.

“Finally, in a city like Cambridge, where it is very difficult to find centrally-located accommodation for key workers, the whole project has a potentially much bigger impact – it has brought in hundreds of people, and this will clearly have an effect on the local economy.

“And as such, this type of development clearly has massively positive implications for other towns and cities that need centrally-located accommodation for key workers, and need it fast.”

Michael Thirkettle, Chief Executive of McBains Cooper, said: “What the team has achieved – director Zaki Ghiacy, Kevin Conlon, Peter O’Rourke and Jo Churchaill – should not be underestimated: every possible challenge was thrown at them: design, planning, technical and timescale, and they delivered magnificently.”

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley / Chris Fowler

07788 978800 / 07719 172225

im@pressrelations.co.uk / cf@pressrelations.co.uk www.mcbainscooper.com

Notes.

McBains Cooper

McBains Cooper is an inter-discipline consultancy, specialising in property, infrastructure and construction, offering a wide range of consulting and design services including architectural, aesthetic or technical design, problem solving, budget management, facilities management, health and safety, sustainability consultancy and on-the-ground civil engineering. Driving and supporting projects ranging from minor works to major contracts worth more than £100 million, McBains Cooper operates across a variety of sectors throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America. McBains Cooper is committed to environmental, social and economic sustainable development and their integrated approach means they deliver effective, award-winning solutions to their clients. The Group employs 150 people. McBains Cooper has regional headquarters in London (head office), Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, Lima (Peru) and Mexico City, with associate offices in Belfast and Dublin. www.mcbainscooper.com

NEW GOVERNMENT: RE-THINK “10% RENEWABLES” PLANNING RULES

MCBAINS COOPER

PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY

PRESS RELEASE

May 10, 2010.

NEW GOVERNMENT: RE-THINK “10% RENEWABLES” PLANNING RULES.

Property and construction consultancy McBains Cooper says the next government should look carefully at its planning permission “renewables” policy to prove its true understanding of the issue - and drive down the cost of green energy.

Current planning permission regulations dictate that new-builds must include design and construction features that generate at least 10% of their energy needs from on-site renewable energy equipment.

But Anthony Coumidis, Sustainability and Energy Director of McBains Cooper, says that in the vast majority of cases, moving the renewable energy generating equipment away from the building to which it is contributing power will generate even greater efficiencies.

“Investing, say, £250,000 in wind turbines that turn for 50% of the time on a city centre building will not yield as much power per unit of investment compared with an identically-costed development in an area where higher and more consistent wind speeds occur 75% of the time.

“Furthermore, unless the 10% renewables rule is enforced for the life of the building, commercially-challenged building owners will neglect energy generating equipment to the extent that after only a few years it may well have failed completely – but if the farm is centrally owned and maintained, then efficiencies will grow rather than fall.

“We live and learn, or, in our case, we design and help construct and we learn – and we’re learning that there are potentially better and more cost-efficient ways to generate renewable or green energy; and that’s not necessarily down to technology.

“We believe that instead of every new building having to generate 10% of its energy needs from on-site renewable energy equipment, each one should be assessed on its own merits.

“Some new buildings simply do not offer the highest possible return on investment in energy equipment, primarily because of their location.

“Wind speeds in city centres are, on average, far lower than on a coastline, so wind turbines will not run at their optimum, and low-rise buildings constructed in the shadow of bigger buildings may not benefit from efficient solar power generation.

“We would propose that developers take the proportion of budget they would have spent on renewables in a new-build and that it is contributed to a central fund which buys into much bigger and efficient wind, wave or solar power farms.

“This could be viewed as the green efficiency difference between 20 school-run cars and a school bus with its own bus lane. One has 20 build and design costs, and stops and starts – the other has one design cost, an economy-of-scale build cost and runs consistently and efficiently,” said Anthony Coumidis.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley / Chris Fowler

07788 978800 / 07719 172225

im@pressrelations.co.uk / cf@pressrelations.co.uk www.mcbainscooper.com

Notes.

McBains Cooper

McBains Cooper is an inter-discipline consultancy, specialising in property, infrastructure and construction, offering a wide range of consulting and design services including architectural, aesthetic or technical design, problem solving, budget management, facilities management, health and safety, sustainability consultancy and on-the-ground civil engineering. Driving and supporting projects ranging from minor works to major contracts worth more than £100 million, McBains Cooper operates across a variety of sectors throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America. McBains Cooper is committed to environmental, social and economic sustainable development and their integrated approach means they deliver effective, award-winning solutions to their clients. The Group employs 150 people. McBains Cooper has regional headquarters in London (head office), Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, Lima (Peru) and Mexico City, with associate offices in Belfast and Dublin. www.mcbainscooper.com

McBains Cooper expands in Latin America

http://www.constructionnewsportal.com/construction_article7097.html

MCBAINS COOPER


PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY

PRESS RELEASE



February 11, 2010.



MCBAINS COOPER GROWS IN MEXICO.



Property and construction consultancy McBains Cooper has opened a third office in Mexico as the business continues to grow ahead of forecast.



London-based McBains Cooper is capitalising on Latin American demand for UK inter-disciplinary infrastructure and property consultancy expertise having been appointed, amongst other projects, as advisers to the Mexican Ministry of Security for the development under a PPP (Public Private Partnership) scheme of 12 prisons.



Monterrey joins Mexico City and Chihuahua as McBains Cooper offices in what is becoming one of the most important developing economies.



Santiago Klein, managing director of McBains Cooper International, says there’s a steady but growing flow of demand for UK construction consultancy expertise in Latin America for both public and private sector related projects with an especially positive forecast for Public Private Partnerships.

However, a growing niche of UK and Europe-based investors are switching interest to Latin America where McBains Cooper’s status as the gateway to the region is proving fruitful for developers and their European sponsors.



“Every region of the world has a different way of going about doing business, and Latin America’s way is a complex mix of who you know, what language you speak and the pedigree of professional expertise. Latin America is dominated by two languages and a deep-seated enthusiasm for UK professionals,” said Santiago Klein.



“We’re a long-established UK company, with on-the-ground presence and local business experience in several Latin American countries – and that makes us of great interest to the decision-makers.



“But crucial to the whole process is the who-you-know: in Latin America the deals are done between businesses and organisations who know and trust one-another, which is fundamental to protecting the integrity of the contract - and a general rule of thumb is that it’s necessary to have an in-depth understanding and business intelligence of the local markets to be successful in the region.



“We have vast experience across Latin America on both inward investment support and PPP bids and contracts – we have a compelling proposition to businesses and organisations inside and outside of Mexico.”



Ends



Further information:

Iain Macauley / Chris Fowler

07788 978800 / 07719 172225

im@pressrelations.co.uk / cf@pressrelations.co.uk www.mcbainscooper.com



Notes.

McBains Cooper

McBains Cooper is an inter-discipline consultancy, specialising in property, infrastructure and construction, offering a wide range of consulting and design services including architectural, aesthetic or technical design, problem solving, budget management, facilities management, health and safety, sustainability consultancy and on-the-ground civil engineering. Driving and supporting projects ranging from minor works to major contracts worth more than £100 million, McBains Cooper operates across a variety of sectors throughout the UK, Europe and Latin America. McBains Cooper is committed to environmental, social and economic sustainable development and their integrated approach means they deliver effective, award-winning solutions to their clients. The Group employs 150 people. McBains Cooper has regional headquarters in London (head office), Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, Lima (Peru) and Mexico City, with associate offices in Belfast and Dublin. www.mcbainscooper.com