The Global Challenge: Clean Water for All

It can be easy to forget in today’s busy world just how lucky we are to have access to clean water on demand. But the fact remains that getting clean water to everyone is one of the biggest challenges we face today. Find out more about this challenge in the attached video.  

AquAid: Clean Water with a Clean Conscience 

As one of the biggest suppliers of hot and cold water solutions in the UK today, AquAid provide services to 30,000 clients across the country, including some big names in business such as BAE Systems and the NHS. But AquAid goes further. As well as delivering reliable, prompt service, AquAid make generous donations from all their sales, leading to over £14 million being donated, and providing clean water to over two million people worldwide.  

They began their charitable work in partnership with Christian Aid in 1998 and went on to set up The Africa Trust in 2010. Find out more about The Africa Trust in the attached PDF.  

The Work of The Arica Trust

Crucial Work for Some of the World’s Poorest Communities 

According to the World Health Organization's figures, some 435 million people globally get their water from unprotected wells and springs, and another 144 million from sources like rivers and lakes. These unprotected sources are vulnerable to contamination, carrying water-borne diseases.  

Lack of clean water is also a major issue for sanitation in the medical environment, with the overwhelming number of in-hospital infections happening in developing countries where access to clean water is difficult.  

This just goes to show how crucial AquAid’s work is.  

AquAid’s Supporters 

The business world is keenly aware of the need to give back to the global community.  

Mr Sahel Majali is the founder and Chairman of Mid Group, one of the fastest-growing construction companies in the UK. His organisation, through working with AquAid, has provided donations to build a well in an African community, providing clean water for everyone through a user-friendly Elephant pump. Take a look at the attached infographic for more information on the Elephant pump.  

What is the Elephant Pump

Checkatrade, another of AquAid’s many UK customers, were impressed by the service they received when AquAid installed their boilers. They were even more impressed when they learned that their purchase had provided clean water to an African community. Customers across the UK, including schools, use AquAid, happy in the knowledge that their purchases support AquAid’s philanthropic work providing for the needs of some of the poorest communities in the world.  

How Brexit Affects the UK Construction Industry

In 2016, the UK voted by just under 52 percent to leave the EU. Since then, the increase in market volatility is clear for all to see. Let’s look closer at the effect on the construction industry.

How the Brexit Vote affects the British Economy

Analysis shows that the British deficit could be as much as £40 billion, and economists agree that damage to the British economy is a real risk. However, although some industries have already been negatively affected, the story is not the same across the whole economy. The attached infographic has more information.

Which Industries Has Brexit Hit Hardest?

A Lack of Affordable Housing

It’s nothing new that there is a lack of affordable housing in Britain. There is not enough supply to meet demand. Despite government efforts, some say that even more is needed.

As the prospect of owning your own home becomes less realistic, the number of people who rent their home has increased sharply. UK property prices are on the increase, and rental prices are climbing too. An average home costs eight times an average salary, but renting can cost as much as half a person’s salary, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rental market has increased 100 percent in the last two decades, and 20 percent of all homes are rented.

The government is pushing to get new homes built through a number of measures, including planning reforms. The attached PDF has more information about this.

The UK Government's Target of Building 3000,000 New Homes a Year

The Current Situation for the Construction Industry

Though the market has become volatile and some industries have suffered, there is no prospect of a decrease in the demand for new affordable housing any time soon, as Sahel Majali, founder and Chairman of the Mid Group, points out. In London especially, the demand for starter homes is great, with young families keen to get on the housing ladder.

According to the housing charity Shelter, there is a need for no less than 1.2 million new homes to meet this demand. The only other option for young families is the increasingly insecure rental market. Shelter says that losing a rented home is the most common cause of homelessness.

With this steadily increasing demand, and recurrent government commitments to build more homes over the next decade, there’s every reason for optimism in the construction sector. The Government has committed more money to house building, which is shown in the attached video. As Mr Majali points out, the housing crisis means there will be a demand for new homes for many years to come.

Changing the Construction Industry with Virtual Reality

The onset of the digital age has brought about a revolution in the way we work. In the construction industry, virtual reality has been making a mark.

Virtual Reality: Exploring Virtual Spaces

Virtual reality takes advantage of the human brain’s massive processing power to create an interactable environment that is as close to reality as possible. As computer technology becomes more advanced, so does our capability to use that technology in creating more detailed and complex virtual environments. A virtual environment can be explored in detail and interacted with by the user, leading to many exciting possibilities.

The Key Benefits of Using Virtual Reality Technologies in Construction 

The Construction Industry: Deploying the Latest Virtual Reality Technology

Since the construction industry is so varied and covers many different projects, virtual reality has a great role to play. For example, physical modelling of construction projects is a notoriously difficult process; however, the application of virtual reality makes this much easier, quicker and more accurate.

Detailed modelling and scalability are now achievable as never before, and what’s more, specialists in different fields are able to collaborate across distances in real time, using the immersive power of virtual reality to explore the projects they are working on. The impact of these new technologies has changed the construction industry forever. Read the PDF to find out more.

What are the Advantages of 3D Construction Modelling? 

Sahel Majali is a time-served and highly experienced construction professional. He is the founder and Chairman of one of the fastest-growing construction companies, Mid Group. Mid Group employs virtual reality and other digital modelling technologies like BIM in its work, keeping the company ahead of the curve when it comes to new technology.

The many varied applications of virtual reality were highlighted in a recent interview with Ben Bennet, the Managing Director of Luminous Group, which is leading the way in providing virtual reality and 3D digital modelling to the industry. Find out more about how these technologies are used in the industry by watching the video.

Virtual reality can be deployed in a sales context, too. Makuto Nagasawa is the Director of Development with the Japanese company Freedom Architects. His company is giving potential buyers virtual tours of their new property, even allowing them to experiment with decorating and furnishing their potential new home within the virtual model.

As the highly competitive construction industry moves with the times, companies like these are keeping themselves ahead of the curve by utilising the very latest in digital technology.