Life in the limelight is far from easy, with celebrities under constant scrutiny about their looks. As a result, going under the knife has become the norm for many stars – in fact, it’s even considered a style statement. There are also some great non-invasive procedures available such as those offered by Thread Lift Cardiff companies where you can achieve even more natural looking results. Continue reading Seven celebrities who have got it right with cosmetic surgery →

Norovirus is the “winter vomiting bug” that can strike at any time of year. It causes sickness and diarrhoea and is highly infectious. It is very unpleasant, although most people make a full recovery and don’t need any special treatment.  The young and elderly will need extra support and care to recover well from this illness. Vulnerable adults may be  in need of a part time care London agency, which you can find from  https://www.guardiancarers.co.uk/services/part-time-care . Companies like these will be well prepared to deal with any kind of illness that occurs. Here are a few helpful tips to help you recover. Continue reading Top tips for beating Norovirus →

Every company has a duty to care for the health and welfare of its staff, but it also makes sound business sense to ensure that employees are fit and well enough to carry out their duties. There is legislation in place that makes it mandatory for employers to protect the health and well-being of staff, but some businesses may need professional help to ensure that they meet the requirements. Continue reading Occupational health – who needs it? →

With the vast range of barbecues on sale today, it’s easy to see barbecues as a modern affair. Some of them are quite complicated and very expensive, but others are much simpler – no more than a box with charcoal and a grill. Continue reading Barbecues Become a Summer Social Affair →

A major challenge in the construction industry is to streamline productivity by taking advantage of cutting-edge technology. The advent of cryptocurrencies offers numerous opportunities to revolutionise this sector, but how can companies identify and benefit from these opportunities? Continue reading How blockchain could transform construction →

Gordon Ramsay has been in the news recently for the arrival of his beautiful baby boy making him the father of five. This has been great news for the family following on from the sad news of their loss of a baby a few years ago. Continue reading The amazing world of Gordon Ramsay →

As a cat owner myself I am not surprised that the Ancient Egyptians loved cats and worshipped them in the way that they did. For me nothing is better than curling up on the sofa with a nice hot chocolate, a good book in my hand a cat asleep on my lap. Now, whilst the Egyptians wouldn’t have had all of the equipment such as cat towers and the out of hours care such as Cattery Cheltenham companies like https://www.catterycheltenham.co.uk/ to look after their pets when they went away, they certainly knew how to take care of their feline friends. Continue reading The Ancient Egyptians love of cats →

When you get up in the morning doesn’t it feel good to put your feet down on some nice soft carpet. It’s quite warm and inviting plus it almost makes up for the fact that you’ve got to get out of bed. Can you imagine what it is like if you were putting it down on something else? Whilst a nice floorboard or real wood floor is good to, in the days before any of this we were a bit stuck for surfaces. What did we use before carpet? It might be that you’re looking at your carpet and thinking that it might need a bit of a clean and a Bristol Carpet Cleaning company like http://carpetcleaningcompanybristol.co.uk/ might be just the ticket. Continue reading In the days before we had carpets what did we use? →

We all know that energy is expensive and any saving we can make is a major help with the household budget as well as helping the environment. What’s surprising though is how much you can save simply with greater efficiency, whether it’s properly maintained boilers in Haslemere or making sure you turn off appliances you’re not using.

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The average house in the UK spends around £1,200 a year on energy an amount which could be significantly more than it needs to be.

Simple economy measures

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to save energy. It’s possible to start with a few simple measures. Not leaving appliances on standby for example or turning off lights when you leave a room. Washing your clothes at a lower temperature can make a difference too. Most modern washing machines have low temperature or energy saving settings. Getting an energy monitor can help you understand how you’re using power and which appliances in your home are consuming the most. It may come as a great surprise what is consuming the most energy in your house. There is a chance it could be due to your fireplace. A fireplace such as a stove that is on regularly like on winter nights could be very energy consuming.  A possible solution to this is to limit how long you use a stove for. Different Stoves would have energy efficiency and would need a stove company to explain which kind of stove would best suit your needs. If you’re interested in optimising you’re stove use, you may wish to consider a wood burning stove Northern Ireland company such as http://www.stovebay.com/stoves/category/40-wood-burning-stoves#.XLCTz-hKhPY

who like other companies would give you the information on which stoves are most effective.

A lot of energy is wasted by letting heat escape, so you can save by making sure that your insulation is effective. Simple measures like draught-proofing your windows and doors or adding thermal curtain linings can make a big difference. If you’re prepared to spend a bit more then checking your loft insulation is adequate. You can look at cavity wall insulation too but check that you’re in a suitable location.

It’s also important to understand how to use your heating controls so that you only heat your home when you need to and keep it at a comfortable temperature.

More expensive options

If you’re prepared to invest a bit more into cutting your energy bills then you might want to consider measures such as generating your own electricity. The most common option for this is solar panels – which can also be used for water heating – but you may also consider installing a wind turbine.

Other options to think about might be heat pumps that draw heat from the ground or the air, or if you live in the countryside you might think about a wood-burning stove.

The recent budget announced by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, raised a number of points that are of importance to the construction industry. Some of these will have a positive influence, whereas others will put further pressure on businesses in this sector. Here we look at the key points of interest to the industry and discuss what effect they may have.

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Infrastructure and housing

The government showed that it was committed to revising the National Infrastructure Pipeline and the National Infrastructure Delivery Plan, which will improve long-term confidence and shows the planned investment in infrastructure by the public and private sectors.

In the short term, however, net investment by the public sector is expected to drop between 2019/22 and 2022/25 as a proportion of the GDP; therefore, private sector investment will be vital to maintain the flow of work.

There were no big housing announcements made in the budget; however, the Lifetime ISA was introduced, which will eventually take over from the Help to Buy ISA launched at the end of last year.

The budget also included headline notes on planning reforms, which will include speeding up planning decisions, making land ownership more transparent and permission in principle. Planning problems are one of the main issues for SMEs looking to extend their business and these changes could be a massive benefit to companies that are now working with Tensile Fabric structures, such as https://www.spatialstructures.com/

Stamp duty changes

Changes that were confirmed to the stamp duty rates could also impact on the house building industry. An increase by three percentage points on stamp duty for additional properties comes into force on 1 April this year and this is expected to have a significant impact on the buy-to-let market, especially as large-scale investors will not now be exempt.

The number of investors buying properties has increased in the past few months ahead of the changes, pushing demand in February to its highest level in 12 years; however, we could now see lower levels of investment in the sector, which could be a risk for the build-to-rent market.

The budget did not really bring anything of true significance for the construction industry; on the other hand, there was nothing significant taken away and the sector is not hugely worse off than it was before. Nothing significant initially could be significant for the long term future of the construction industry as it relies on consistency with budgets.