Category: Business Premises

Building regulations in the UK require an air pressure test for all new buildings, in order to be compliant. But what is an air pressure test and why is it necessary?

The reason concerns conversation of energy and heat. All new buildings whether they are domestic or commercial, need to ensure their energy performance is at a certain standard.

A building that ‘leaks’ too much energy and heat is inefficient. It will have a higher CO2 footprint and will be expensive to heat. A level of controlled ventilation is fine, however uncontrolled ventilation through leaks can cause problems with condensation and damp, and affect the lifetime of the property. It is therefore in everyone’s interest to check the energy performance of all new buildings, to see if they meet the building regulation standard. These will have a better environmental rating.

The specific standards are Part L1A and L2A (England & Wales), Section 6 (Scotland) or Part F1 (Northern Ireland) of The Building Regulations. Calculations such as Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) calculations or Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) should be looked at during the design stage, and then they can be verified once the build is complete.

This is where the air pressure test comes in. Air pressure tests are used to test ‘air permeability’ or ‘air leakage’ of a building. This is a straightforward way to verify whether the building meets the building regulation standards.

(more…)

As the capital of the United Kingdom, London is a busy place. It’s overcrowded with all the big corporations and the other companies competing with each other. If you are considering opening up a new business, London may be the first place you consider but it may not be the best place you could choose. Many new and expanding businesses are now moving to the northern cities, and Liverpool especially is positioning itself as the new place to be. Liverpool and Merseyside offer many benefits including:

Cost

The cost of renting an office building, industrial units or retail shops in Liverpool is cheaper compared to London. In general, the cost of living is much more affordable in the north of England. The housing, food, and transport are also cheaper than in London and many other cities. By choosing Liverpool as the location for your business, you will be able to keep your business costs down allowing you to maximise your profits.

Location and transport links

Liverpool is a fantastic location for doing national and international business.

From the Central Station, you can go anywhere in the UK. It only takes two hours to get to Euston and 30 minutes to get to Manchester. It is very easy to get around Liverpool. There are very good transport networks in this city. You can get around the city using the train, bus routes and even the ferries. The Merseyrail runs very often throughout the day making everyday commuting very easy.

Liverpool is also a great location for distributing goods worldwide as it has excellent access to major motorways going north and south, as well as seaports and the Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Skilled employees

Liverpool University and Liverpool John Moores University are renowned for their achievements, especially relating to Biosciences and Engineering. Liverpool Hope and Liverpool St Johns are also great universities and you can find outstanding talent graduating from these universities. Each year, they attract many international students. As the living cost of living in Liverpool is low and many businesses are now shifting their operations here, the graduates tend to stay here and seek employment, so you have a good opportunity to hire skilled employees for your business. About two million people live within one hour distance of Liverpool so you can find a wide range of talent for your business. (more…)

Your floorboards get old and lose its smoothness over time. When you stand on the floor, you may not feel that comfortable as you used to feel years back. When you feel that something needs to be changed on your hardwood floor, you should sand your floor. Sanding makes your floor smooth and brings back the sparkle it has lost over the years. Many people tend to take up a DIY project for floor sanding. However, it is always better to hire the experts. You will find many ‘floor sander hire’ signs on the streets in your area, but you should choose the right people for the job so that your money is not wasted. Here are some tips to hire floor sander in London.

Do a thorough research

The Internet is a good source for finding a floor sander provider. You can search for an expert in your area. You can also look up the yellow pages to find such businesses in your area. Come up with a number of companies and then shortlist them.

Get recommendations

You should get recommendations from your friends, family members and colleagues. They can suggest you some good floor sanders. They might have hired one for doing their own work and if their work was satisfactory, you might hire that floor sander as well.

Read reviews

You will find many reviews online regarding floor sanders. Read those and choose one that has a very positive review and received a very good rating.

Years of experience

You should hire someone who has years of experience in the field. Floor sanding is a tough job; it requires special skill and experience to sand floors of various kinds. So, you should hire someone experienced.

Previous works

You should look at the previous works the floor sander has done. If they have done a work recently near your home then it’s worth visiting the place and see how good their work was.

Price

You should compare the prices different floor sanders are offering. It is not wise to choose the provider who is offering the cheapest price straight away. You should look at the experience and previous works of the floor sander in making the decision. You must remember that quality is more important than price.

Equipment

Different equipment is needed to perform the job. You should ensure that the floor sander has modern equipment to do the job. A good equipment can perform the job faster and the end result will also be good.

By hiring a good floor sander, you will be able to enjoy beautiful polished floor for many years. A good floor sander can give you good value for your money. You should invest your time in finding an expert floor sander so that you don’t have to worry about your floorboard for a very long time.

Physical space is almost always a limiting factor for businesses. Even if you conduct most of your business online and you don’t need space for manufacturing products and so on, almost all companies at least need enough space to work comfortably and flexibility for meetings with staff and clients.

With this in mind, there are many things you can do to get the most value out of a small space. Consider a few of the following options.

Use folding tables and chairs

Space-saving furnishings that can be folded flat when not in use are a fantastic solution for many offices. Replace a bulky traditional desk or meeting table with a convenient folding table that you can move around or pack up easily. You can use folding chairs for the same reason if you occasionally need to accommodate more attendees than usual.

Go paperless

Storing paper records and files takes up an alarming amount of space after just a short time, and usually fills up heavy filing cabinets that get in the way and can’t be moved around easily. By switching to digital for as many systems as possible, you’re saving space as well as the environment. (more…)

Choosing the right commercial property for your business can be a difficult and time-consuming process. There are some different factors which need to be considered, and the selection and negotiating process can take months. If you don’t know what you’re doing, the whole thing can get rather frustrating. Here are some guidelines to help in choosing the right commercial property for your business.

When you’re looking for commercial office space for which you want to lease out some space to other tenants, the general rule of thumb is “more is better.” Of course, this also assumes that you do not overpay for the property with the higher number of units. But all things being equal, it’s better to have more units to rent out. This way, you can afford to charge less for each unit and still turn a profit.

As the old saying goes, the three most important aspects of commercial property are “location, location, location.” This is especially true with commercial property. If you are acquiring property for any retail purpose, you need to thoroughly examine the area in which it’s located. How much traffic does it have? What is the demographics of the area? Is it a growing or dying area population wise? Do the people in this area have a need/desire for your product/service? All these things need to be examined.

When it comes to getting financing from the bank, make sure all your financial statements are in order. What one of the major criteria banks are looking at is how well organized your company is, because a better organized better run company is far more likely to succeed. If the financial statements appear to be messy, this alone could be enough to cause the bank to turn down the financing. (more…)